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mtx'uM ^nti-^Iakrg ^0tiftg, 



SECOND DECADE, 



HELD IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, DEC. 3d, 4th and 5th, 1853. 



PHONOGRAPHIC KEPOKT BY J. M. W. YERRINTON. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY, ^^i 

U2 NASSAU STREET. 

1854. 









P R C E E D I N G S 






SECOND DECADE, 



\ Held in the City of Philadelphia, Dec. 3d, 4th and 5th, 1853. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY, 

14 2 NASSAU STREET. 

18 54. 



BOSTON. 

J. B. YERKINTON AND SON, 

PRINTERS. 



PROCEEDINGS. 



The Twentieth Anniversary of the formation of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society was celebrated by a general meeting, in the City of Phil- 
adelphia, of the members and friends of the Society — Philadelphia 
having been the birth-place of the Society, on the 4th of December, 1833. 

On Saturday, December 3, 1853, the Society assembled in Sansom 
Hall, and, at 10 o^clock, A. M., was called to order by the President of 
the Society, William Lloyd Garrison. 

On motion, Voted, That James Miller McKim, Hannah M. Darlington 
and Margaret Jones be a Committee to nominate suitable officers of this 
meeting. 

Said Committee reported the following list of officers, which, being 
read to the Society, was unanimously accepted, and the persons therein 
named were accordingly chosen : 

PRESIDENT. 

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, or Boston. 

VICE PRESIDENTS. 

James Mott, of Pa. Edmund Quincy, of Mass. 

Thomas Garrett, of Del. Lucretia Mott, of Pa. 

Francis Jackson, of Mass. Bartholomew Fussell, of Pa. 

Peter Libbey, of Me. Joseph Barker, of Ohio. 

John L. Clark, of R. I. Hannah Cox, of Pa. 

Samuel J. May, of N. Y. William H. Furness, of Pa. 

Robert Purvis, of Pa. Henry Grew, of Pa. 

secretaries. 

Samuel May, Jr., of Boston. C. M. Burleigh, of Philad. 

Oliver Johnson, of N. Y^. Sarah Pugh, of Philadelphia. 

G. B. Stebbins, of Rochester, N. Y. 



TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 



FINANCE COMMITTEE. 



Benjamin C. Bacon, of Pa. Benjamin Bown, of Ohio. 

Abey Kimber, of Pa. Alice Jackson, of Pa. 

business committee. 

Wendell Phillips, James Milleii McKim, 

Mary Grew, Edward M. Davis, 

Charles C. Burleigh, Thomas Whitson, 

Anne Warren Weston, Joseph A. Dugdale, 

Henry C. Wright. 

Opporlunity being given, vocal prayer was ofTered, in a fervent spirit, 
by Henry Grew, of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Garrison, on taking the chair, made an eloquent and earnest ad- 
dress to the Society ; but as the Reporter of the subsequent proceedings 
was not then present, only the following imperfect sketch of it can be 
given : 

In holding this twentieth anniversary, (Mr. G. said,) I must first con- 
gratulate such of you as participated in the formation of this Society — 
and, next, all those who, since that memorable event, have raUied under 
its standard — on the unquestionable progress and many signal triumphs 
of our cause, and also on the numerous cheering signs of the times. 

Our movement is not sectional or geographical, but world-wide in its 
principles, affecting all the hopes and interests of humanity, and indisso- 
lubly connected whh the freedom of mankind. It does not relate to the 
color of the skin, but to the value of a man. It is not the antagonism of 
the North against the South, but of Liberty against Slavery. Our instru- 
mentalities are the same now as at the beginning — the faithful and un- 
compromising utterance of the truth, and its application to the consciences 
and hearts of the people, without respect to persons. The spirit that 
actuates us is still a loving spirit, " without partiality and without hypoc- 
risy" — as earnestly desiring the welfare of the slaveholder, as of the 
slave — the spirit of human brotherhood, of peace and good will to all 
men, and we believe most acceptable to God. 

Since this Society was organized, probably not less than twelve hundred 
thousand new victims have been added to the slave population of our 
land ; the whole number of which, at the present time — three millions 
AND A HALF — surpasses that of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania ! One 
hundred thousand babes are annually born at the South, and doomed to 
live and die as chattels personal and marketable articles. This is the 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 5 

prostration and annihilation of every tiling which honors, exalts, and 
really constitutes humanity ; for the slave is ao extinct man. It is an 
annual loss and calamity to the country, equal to the blotting out of a 
population as large as that of Philadelphia, once in every four years ! 
What mind is able to grapple with a thought like this, or to trace con- 
sequences so awful ? What would be said, if it were possible for 
the Slave Power to visit with impunity evei'y household in this populous 
city, and take from it every father, mother, child, and bury them in the 
grave of chattel bondage, in the short period of four years ? Humanity 
shudders at the idea, and we all feel that the enormity of such an act 
would transcend the power of language adequately to describe it. Yet 
this is what is going on continually in fifteen States of the American 
Union ; and they who sicken at the deed, and cry out against it, are 
regarded as fit only to be ranked with fanatics, incendiaries and mad- 
men ! If this were done on the coast of Africa, for any reason, the 
doer thereof would be, by the laws of this land, declared worthy of death. 
I do seriously believe, that the faithful execution of the Law of 
Congress against the Slave Trade would scarcely leave any body alive. 
South or North of Mason and Dixon's line, if it is true that the accessory 
is as bad as the thief, and that " he who abets oppression shares the 
crime." Not that I wish to see anybody hanged, said Mr. "G., but desire 
that every one may repent of his wickedness, and be saved from all 
evil. 

Twenty years ago, it was common throughout the land to hear much 
said of the evils of Slavery. Even at the South, many professed to 
deplore it, and thus an influence was exerted to quiet the conscience of 
the people, and to reconcile them to inaction respecting this growing 
w'rong. But now, all this is changed! All masks are off". Every 
house, as it were, and every soul, have been visited and searched. 
No longer do we hear the hypocritical lament that Slavery is a great 
evil, from the lips of men who are doing everything in their power to 
uphold it. The disguise is stripped off. Slavery is now justified in State 
and Church as a good thing — a right thing — an institution in accord- 
ance with justice and love, and with the Bible as the revealed will of 
God ! No God is to be allowed but one who justifies human bondage ; 
no Christ save one who is in unity with man-stealing ; no Church but one 
Mhich fellowships the slaveholder; no Constitution but that which guar- 
antees the perpetuation of Slavery ; and no^ party, nationally con- 
sidered, which does not submit to the Slave Power. This is, indeed, in 
many respects, a sad picture. Yet is it ever better to know our opponents, 
and to see them stripped of all disguise, than to submit to deception, and 



6 TWENTIETH ANNIVERS'ARY OF THE 

be led astray from the path of duty. But if foes have been unmasked 
and developed, so, on the other hand, have friends been multiplied, and 
that greatly, on both sides of the Atlantic. And such friends ! how true, 
how stanch, how clear-sighted ! Will they ever be discouraged ? 
Never. Will they ever lay down their arms till the victory is won ? 
Never. Thej' will continue to labor in faith, and in patience, and with 
such love in their hearts as calls forth hope in the breast of the slave, and 
brings nearer the day of jubilee. God grant that it may be very near ! 

The first ten years of the Society's existence were marked by the 
efforts of mobs to destroy the Society, and crush the Anti-Slavery cause. 
The spirit of violence went forth through almost every city, town and 
village, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and determined to 
silence every Anti-Slavery voice, no matter by what means. But it 
was in vain. During the last ten years, the tactics have been changed. 
We hear little or no objection made to our movement now, because of 
our doctrine of the duty of immediate emancipation, or because of the 
low and hypocritical cry against us of amalgamation. 

Now, the great outcry against us is, that we are injideh — a cry 
chiefly raised by those who are in the closest alliance with slaveholders 
and slave-traders, and who have left nothing undone to bring the sanc- 
tions of the Bible to justify and sustain Slavery. A hireling priesthood 
and a corrupt press have uttered this cry, and are now uttering it. But 
in vain — in vain. No weapon formed against our Cause has ever pros- 
pered ; none ever will. Gerrit Smith has truly said, No men on the 
earth are more thoroughly Abolitionists than the slaveholders ; for 
were the doom of Slavery hanging over themselves, they would resist 
it with a vehemence and desperation greater even than any at the 
North. 

Friends, our work is before us. Twelve hundred thousand victims of 
the Slave Power more than when we began are to be delivered ! But 
our enemies, and the enemies of the slave, are now made manifest — 
the field is clear — our cause is just — it is God's own cause, and his 
omnipotent blessing will be upon it, and it will succeed ! 

" Eor ti'utli shall conquer at the last — 
So round and round we run, 
And ever the right comes uppermost, 
And ever is justice done." 

Mr. Garrison's speech was received throughout with close attention, 
and with many marks of approval. 

The President read letters from Hon. Gerrit Smith, Eev. E. H. 



AMERICAN ANTI-ST.AVERY SOCIETY. 7 

Chapin, Cassius M. Clay, Esq., of Kentucky, George W. Julian, of 
Indiana, G. W. Lewis, of Ohio, and Henry C. Howells, of Pittsburgh. 

It was voted to publish these letters with the proceedings of this meet- 
ing. [See Appendix.] 

The Declaration of Sentinnents, put forth by this Society at its organ- 
ization, was then read by Rev. Samuel J. May, now of Syracuse, N. Y-, 
one of the original signers. The reading was heard with profound 
attention and thrilling emotions. [See Appendix.] 

Rev. Samuel J. May, of Syracuse, N. Y., was then introduced to the 
meeting, and spoke as follows : — 

SPEECH OF REV. SAMUEL J. MAY. 

Mr. President : 

I have some reminiscences of the preparation and adoption of this 
admirable document, which I think cannot fail to be interesting to all 
who have just heard it read ; especially to those who were with us twen- 
ty years ago. 

Early in the first day of our Convention in 1833, it was agreed that a 
Declaration of our Sentiments and Purposes ought to be sent throughout 
the land. A committee to prepare one was accordingly chosen. 

That Committee invited as many members of the Convention as might 
be moved so to do, to meet with them the ensuing evening at the house of 
their Chairman, Dr. E. P. Atlee, for the purpose of advising with them 
upon the character and extent of the proposed Declaration. About thirty 
persons met, as invited, and spent two hours in a somewhat desultory 
conversation upon the subject, which was adapted rather to scatter than 
to concentrate the thoughts of the one who would be called upon to write 
the Declaration. A sub-Committee of three was therefore appointed, — 
William Lloyd Garrison, John G. Whittier and Samuel J. May, — to 
retire and prepare a draft of the proposed document before the next 
morning. 

We hastened to the house of Frederick A. Hinton, (a colored gentle- 
man, since deceased,) and there, after a few minutes' consultation, just 
before 10 o'clock, we left Mr. Garrison alone, to do what must needs be 
done by an individual, and no one could do so well as he. 

The next morning, so soon as the daylight would permit, we re- 
paired to Mr. Hinton's. The lamps were yet burning, and the last two 
sentences of this immortal document were penned after we entered Mr. 
Garrison^ chamber. The reading of what he had written so impressed 
us, that, at first, it seemed exactly what we would have it. On a 
second perusal, two or three verbal alterations were made — and soon 



8 TVVl-NTIETH ANNIVEKSARY OF THE 

after 9 o'clock, we went with it to a room adjoining the Hall in the 
Adelphi building, which was occupied by the Convention. There the 
whole Committee gathered, in enger expectation of the forthcoming 
document. The first reading of it drew from all present expressions of 
almost entire satisfaction ; and after a second and third reading of the 
several sections, only one important alteration was made, — that was the 
erasure of a long passage respecting the Colonization Society, and sub- 
stituting for it the brief paragraph which you have just heard. Upon 
this point the Committee were for awhile divided more than upon all 
others ; not that any of the members had the least confidence in that 
Janus-faced project, or doubted that it merited the scathing rebuke 
which Mr. Garrison had penned ; but because it was supposed that the 
Colonization Society was destined soon to die, and it was thought to be 
not worth while to encumber our Declaration with any extended com- 
ments upon its duplicity and cruelty. Little did we foresee the tenacity 
of life — the seven lives — of which that insidious foe of the colored 
people has shown itself to be possessed. (Applause and laughter.) 

Thus amended, we took the draft of the Declaration into the Conven- 
tion. It was there first read by Dr. Atlee, chairman of the Commhtee 
appointed to prepare it. Never shall I forget — I am sure no one who 
was there can have forgotten — the impression which the reading of this 
document made upon that assembly. It was listened to with the pro- 
foundest attention ; and we sat in silence several moments after the 
voice of the reader had ceased. Some one, J believe it was the great- 
hearted Evan Lewis, who has since departed to a better world, arose and 
said, " We have already adopted this Declaration. The response which 
has obviously gone forth from all our hearts is an endorsement of it. 
There is a maxim, current in the Society of Friends, that ' first impres- 
sions are from God.' Let us not venture to qualify or alter the lan- 
guage of this document, but adopt it as we have heard it read." 

The late excellent Thomas Shipley thought otherwise. He paid a just 
tribute to the Declaration as it had come from the hands of its author, 
but urged that as it was a document of great importance, destined to be 
handed down to our posterity, and to be read of all men, in justice Jo 
ourselves, and to the cause of liberty and humanity, every sentence of 
it should be well-considered. 

Accordingly, the Convention entered upon the careful revision of this 
exposition of sentiments and purposes. We devoted four or five hours, 
the whole of what remained of the day, to this work ; and yet only three 
or four verbal amendments were nfiade to the document, as it had come 
from the pen of Mr. Garrison. To him, therefore, belongs the author- 
ship of this Second Declaration of American Liberty. 



A3IER1CAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 9 

It was in the midst of an earnest discussion of one of the proposed 
annendments, that, for the first time in my life, I heard the voice of a 
woman in a public deliberative assembly. A number of females had 
attended our meetings from the beginning, modestly seating themselves 
in the rear. We were in an animated debate upon a point, about which 
there was considerable difference of opinion, when our attention was 
called to that part of the hall where the women were seated, by the 
voice of one of them, who had risen to speak. A thrill of surprise that 
passed through the Convention, at first seemed to disconcert her; but 
she was reassured by our warm-hearted President, Bekiah Green, who 
bade her go on. She did go on, and spoke in a manner which satis- 
fied every one present, that she was authorized by Him from whom all 
power of utterance comes, to speak as she had done. She made an 
impression upon the Convention that settled the point in debate, so that 
almost by acclamation it was decided in the way she had shown to be 
right. 

We were favored, through the rest of our sessions, with remarks from 
the same, and from two other women, who I am rejoiced to see are with 
her here to-day. It is scarcely necessary I should add, that the one 
was Lucretia Mott, (applause,) and the others were Esther Moore and 
Lydia White. 

From their lips we received counsels that were prized by all who 
heard them ; and what we learnt that da}^, prepared many men who 
were there to espouse another great cause of reform, when, a few years 
afterwards, that cause claimed our espousal. 

At the close of the second day, and of our debates upon the senti- 
ments and the language of the Declaration, this immortal document, as I 
have just now read it to you, was unanimously adopted, and Dr. Abra- 
ham L. Cox was requested to engross it upon parchment before the 
ensuing morning, that then it might be presented, and receive the signa- 
tures of the members of the Convention. 

On the following morning, the morning of the 6th of December, 1833, 
" the Declaration of the Sentiments and Purposes of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society," as it had been engrossed by Abraham L. Cox, was 
laid upon the table of the Convention. It was first read by the gentle- 
man who had taken the pains to prepare so fair a copy. Some discus- 
sion was had upon an alteration he had made in the language of an 
amendment, that had originated with Lucretia Mott. But it was deter- 
mined that the alteration did not materially change the sense of the pas- 
sage, and, therefore, it was unanimously voted that the Declaration is 
now ready for the signatures of all members of the Convention, who 



10 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

are disposed to sign it. Before, however, we proceeded to affix our 
names to this document, it was proposed that it should be read once 
more. The honor of reading it the last time was conferred upon me ; 
and so soon as I had ceased, Thomas Whitson, whom I rejoice to see 
here to-day, informed the Convention that he was obliged to leave the 
city immediately, and requested that he might be permitted without 
delay to subscribe the document, which he cordially approved. The 
honor, therefore, of having put his name first to this Declaration, which 
is to live long after impartial liberty has triumphed over American Sla- 
very, rests with him. 

J. M. McKiM acknowledged the general courtesy of the newspaper 
press of the city, in announcing this meeting, and giving also a brief 
statement of the position of this Society, free of all expense. 

Susan Cox made some remarks, in testimony of her adherence to the 
Anti-Slavery cause. 

Voted, That the hour of meeting this afternoon be 2^ o'clock, and 
this evening, 7 o'clock ; and that the hours of meeting to-morrow be 10, 
A. M., 2^, P. M., and 7, P. M. Adjourned. 

FIRST DAY — Afternoon Session. 

The Society was called to order by Peter Libbey, of Maine, one of the 
Vice-Presidents. 

On motion of Henry C. Wright, and seconded, 

Voted, That a Committee of three be appointed to prepare a history 
of the Society, and of the progress of the Anti-Slavery cause, during 
the past twenty years, to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the So- 
ciety in May next. 

William Lloyd Garrison, Edmund Quincy, and Anne Warren Wes- 
ton, were successively nominated and chosen said Committee. 

Joseph Barker, of Salem, Ohio, then took the stand, and spoke 
■substantially as follows : — 

SPEECH OF JOSEPH BARKER. 

Mr. President: — 

I always rise to speak after dinner, on principle. The time after din- 
ner is generally the dullest and least valuable portion of the day ; so 
that if, on rising, 1 say nothing to very good purpose, the meeting sus- 
tains us little loss by my occupying the floor as possible. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 11 

1 wish, however, to express my great satisfaction in the principles of 
the Declaration that was read this morning, and my high appreciation of 
the objects which the Society formed on that Declaration seeks to accom- 
plish, and the means which it purposes to employ in order to their 
accomplishment. With all others who think on the subject, I cannot 
but regard Liberty as the great necessity of humanity. Without it, man 
cannot be ?nan. It is only by the free use of his physical, intellectual 
and moral faculties, that his manhood can be developed to any thing like 
perfection. Liberty, therefore, is the first great requisite to the develop- 
ment of man ; and equally so to the improvement and perfection 
of society at large. The men, therefore, who contend for Lib- 
erty, are contending for the greatest good that man can enjoy. The 
men who war for Slavery, are warring for the most depressing calamity 
under which mankind can suffer. The men who war with Slavery, and 
who fight for freedom, are to be ranked among the greatest, and best, 
and worthiest of mankind. I cannot express, therefore, the reverence 
which I feel for the men and the women who took in hand this great 
movement in its infancy, incurred popular odium, and have exposed 
themselves to continued persecution^ 

I am not certain that I understand precisely every expression cbti-' 
tained in the Declaration read here ; but, as I should interpret it, I ap- 
prove of it. The Declaration declares its reliance for success, not on 
the power of man, but on the power of God. Man has no power but 
what is the power of God, and God is not accustomed to work, except 
through the agency of man. The power of man is the power of God, 
and he that trusts in the power of man for the accomplishment of any 
object, is trusting, in the truest and best sense, to the power of God. I 
would, therefore, impress on all the necesshy of trusting to that part of 
the power of God which is in themselves, and trusting in it, not while it 
lies inactive, but while it is drawn into exercise ; of trusting in the use 
of that intelligence with which God has gifted them ; in the declaration 
of those feelings, emotions and principles, which form a part of their 
intellectual and moral constitution. 

Let me say a few words in relation to the means to be employed in 
the furtherance of this just work of emancipation. It seems to me that 
the circulation of tracts and books on this subject has been too much 
neglected, or their influence too much underrated. I believe that they 
are capable of being rendered exceedingly serviceable in this cause ; 
and as the Declaration affirms a purpose to circulate tracts and books 
" unsparingly and extensively," it may not be amiss to remind those 
present that it is only by the employment of means that works are to be 



12 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

multiplied. It seems to me that the Anti-SIaveiy Society of this country- 
has never trusted sufficiently in the multiplication and circulation of tracts. 
In the agitation of the Corn Law question in Great Britain and Ireland, 
very great confidence was placed in the multiplication of tracts and 
pamphlets, and their wide distribution among the people. The Anti- 
Corn Law League passed a resolution to place the whole series of all its 
publications in the hands of every elector throughout Great Britain and 
Ireland. They accordingly set a great number of presses at work, and 
the steam-engine worked day and night, until the necessary quantity was 
prepared, and the mails and railroad trains were speedily burdened with 
immense loads of Anti-Corn Law publications, which soon found their 
way into the hands of the electors. Some read them, others threw tliem 
aside. Some read them, praised them, and began to agitate the subject. 
Others read them, and opposed them, thus helping forward the agitation ; 
each opponent bringing into the field two in favor of the abolition of the 
Corn Laws. Such an impression was made on the minds of the people 
at large, such an excitement was created, that, in connection whh some 
favorable circumstances occurring at the time, the tide set in favor of 
their abolition, and the aristocratic restrictions were borne down, the peo- 
ple obtained cheap, untaxed bread, and the commerce of the country and 
the interests of the masses prospered accordingly. In my travels up and 
down this country, I have seen but comparatively few anti-slavery books, 
except in the houses of avowed and well-known anti-slavery characters. 
They ought to be carried into every house, into every cabin, and into 
every shant)^ ; and they ought to be supplied to emigrants, to put them 
on their guard against the infinite wiles by which the emissaries of the 
Slave Power will seek to entrap their comparatively unthinking and un- 
prepared souls. It does appear to me, that if sufficient were done in 
this department, the sentiment of the Norlh in favor of Freedom might 
be increased two, three, five, if not ten and twenty fold. 

The rulers of the world at the present time are those who talk the 
most, write the most, and put the greatest number of documents in the 
hands of the greatest number of people. The printing press is the grand 
engine which controls society. The pulpit used to be the great power, 
but it has now only the second place ; and if the friends of Freedom 
have the means of employing that press, why not do so ? — why not 
work the press } There are those who would give for this express pur- 
pose — for this plain, easy, explicit anti-slavery object — far more liberal- 
ly than they could be induced to contribute towards the objects of the So- 
ciety in general. 

I attended an anti-slavery meeting some time ago, in a town in Ohio, 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 13 

and was very much distressed to hear the speaker say that it was impos- 
sible for the North to abolish Slavery. He said that it was possible for 
the North to restrict Slavery within its present limits; to repeal the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law ; to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia, and per- 
haps it might be possible to put away the slave trade between the differ- 
ent States of the Union ; but it was out of all question to suppose that 
the North could abolish slavery in the Southern States. The feeling 
that I had while the man was speaking was, that he did not wish to see 
Slavery abolished ; for if he did, he would never have entertained the 
idea that it was impossible to abolish it. I felt that the man who would 
agree that it ought to be abolished, would see a way by which it could 
be accomplished. That is my feeling at the present time. I could not 
help thinking then, also, that if all the Anti-Slavery advocates were to 
speak as that man did, they would soon put out the Anti-Slavery fire, and 
extinguish entirely all Anti-Slavery zeal ; and that if those who really do 
speak in favor of Freedom would avow their principles freely, would say 
all that they feel, anil boldly avow their determination to labor for all that 
they believe to be their right, and the right of the country at large, it 
would not only be possible to abolish Slavery, but impossible for any body 
to prevent its speedy abolition. 

If these tracts, to which I have alluded, were extensively circulated, 
they would do something to improve the tone of the lectures and 
speeches of those who stand before the public as Anti-Slavery men. 
They would give them more courage ; they would prepare the people to 
hear them better ; and they would, in consequence, give to both speakers 
and people, a better understanding of the true policy to be pursued, and 
courage to act on those principles ; and there would be a great increase of 
zeal and enthusiasm in favor of Freedom. 

I am in favor of Freedom for others, because I wish for Freedom my- 
self. I go against Slavery being inflicted on any man, because I should 
be very reluctant to allow it to be inflicted on me. But this is not all. 
The country in which I live is disgraced by Slavery ; and every man 
who lives in this country, and allows Slavery to continue here, 
shares the disgrace. A man who speaks his mind in opposition to the 
system, does not merit any portion of that disgrace. So far as the coun- 
try is slaveholding, a man who speaks his mind against it ceases to be 
of the slaveholding community. Sir, if I had any reputation, I would 
give it to this cause with a great deal of pleasure ; but I have no such 
commodity. I had a good Orthodox reputation at one time, but some 
one took it away from me. I have had successively six or seven repu- 
tations, but they have all gone. The only reputation which I have at 



14 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

present is that of an Infidel. I do not, of course, acknowledge myself 
an Infidel, In any bad sense of the term. I believe myself a good and 
a very large believer ; and I believe that I love all that I recognise as 
trulh more highly than ever before. However, as I have no reputation 
worth any thing to give to this Anti-Slavery movement, I must give what 
I can. 

After all, this matter of reputation is not one of such great impor- 
tance ; for if any man joining in this Anti-Slavery movement have a rep- 
utation an hour before he joins it, the hour after, he will have no reputa- 
tion at all. If, then, on coming into this cause, we have no reputation to 
begin whh, we are on a level with those who, having a reputation to lose 
yesterday, have the happiness and honor of losing it to-day. 

Reputation or no reputation, we can all do something. We are often 
deceived in judging of how much innuence a good Orthodox reputation 
gives a man. I hold that a man's influence is in proportion to his regard 
for truth and principle. My firm conviction is, that the Society which 
consists of truth-loving, freedom-revering men and women — strong and 
unwavering in their adherence to what they believe to be principle — is 
stronger than all the associations, and churches, and priesthoods, that 
liave the highest Orthodox reputations upon earth. The strength of an 
association lies in its regard to truth, in its adherence to principle ; and 
such an association, laboring to accomplish a great object, will be found 
sufficient to shake and regenerate the world. 

For myself, I cannot feel any regard for the various objections which 
I have heard put forth against the Anti-Slavery men. It is charged 
against us, that we are agitating society unnecessarily. But the very 
agitators are those who oppose us. They are the agitators who make 
or uphold bad laws, or favor bad institutions. Every man who takes 
sides with institutions that are false, and dangerous, and wicked, is an 
•agitator of society. They must come down, and every man who stands 
by them only increases the difficulty of sweeping them away. It is only 
the sweeping these things away that causes the agitation. If no resist- 
ance was offered to the attempt to abolish them, these evils would be 
swept away like so many straws, and there would be no serious agita- 
tion ; society would be relieved without danger. 

Some say that we ought not to move on thus" " recklessly" — " turn- 
ing the world upside down." This is answered very readily, by saying 
that the world is upside down already, and that agitation has for its 
object the putting it right side up. (Laughter and cheers.) 

I have been very much delighted to-day in listening to the remarks of 
S. J. May. It seems manifest that a very great advance has been made 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 15 

during the twenty years that have passed since the formation of this 
Society ; and not only a great advance in point of sentiment and feeling 
among the people at large, but a great advance among the members of 
this Society in particular. They have learned to appreciate woman 
more justly ; they have learned to treat her more respectfully — to trust 
a little in that portion of the power of God which lies in a woman's 
judgment, in a woman's heart, and in a woman's tongue. It is plain, 
too, that a very great improvement must have taken place among the 
editorial fraternity. Twenty years ago, the newspapers of this city, and 
the country at large, so far as they moved at all, moved in direct and 
steady opposition to the Anti-Slavery cause. Now, it seems that there 
is scarcely one left in town which cannot be moved a little in the right 
direction. True, the Daily News moves mutteringly and complain- 
ingly ; but as Galileo said, " It does move, nevertheless." (Laughter.) 
There is one comfort to be derived from the article in the Daily News — 
the worst part comes first ; the conclusion is the best. Let us hope that 
the next time the editor finds it necessary to say any thing of this move- 
ment, he will begin where he left off, (applause,) and that in future, he 
will have nothing to do, but simply to give the needed intelligence, and 
to bestow the well-deserved, the very well-deserved compliments or enco- 
miums. 

I am not, Mr. President, one of those who feel any disposition to 
abuse this country. On the contrary, I feel disposed 'to speak in praise 
of the institutions of this country in general. I can conscientiously say, 
that I regard this country as ahead of all other countries on the face of 
the earth. It has a more liberal form of government, more liberal laws, 
in many respects, more beneficial institutions, than any other country 
with which I am acquainted. You have no hereditary monarchy nor 
aristocracy — no laws of entail and primogeniture — no State Church — 
no State Priesthood. You have your common schools ; you have better 
laws v/ith regard to taxation, v/ith regard to marriage, with regard to 
women, with regard to the transmission of jiroperfy, and a hundred other 
subjects, than can be found in England ; and England is ahead, in most 
respects, of any country in Europe. We have no reason, when we find 
fault with the country for tolerating the institution of Slavery, to do it 
any injustice in other respects. We can do the country justice, and can 
speak the praises which the country deserves, and yet not be unfaithful 
in regard to the foul blot which still stains its character. But there is 
this to be considered, that all these great advantages of which I have 
spoken — the advantage of a more liberal, more rational, more popular 
form of government — the advantage of more just and equitable laws 



16 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

and more impartial institutions — the advantage of common schools and 
more plentiful supplies of books and newspapers, — all these advantages 
leave the country less excuse for tolerating this greatest of all curses — 
the curse, the stain, the crime of Slavery. Any country vv'ith less light, 
unaccustomed to think about Freedom, the inhabitants of which do not 
enjoy the advantages of religious, political and civil freedom — any coun- 
try where papers and presses are not so abundant as here, and where 
education is not so generally diffused, you might excuse for tolerating a 
dark and accursed wrong, without doing much for its removal. The 
light that we have cannot foil, if we will open our eyes, to reveal to us 
the darkness which exists near to us, spreading itself, to some extent, 
through the length and breadth of this great country. We have light 
enough to show us our own inconsistencies. The country has moved, 
and it will move. It has advanced during the past twenty years, it is 
advancing, and it will continue to advance. Slavery once cursed other 
nations that have got rid of it, without injury and without bloodshed ; 
and we have no need to be afraid, either that Slavery will continue here 
for ever, or that we shall be obliged to overthrow our better institutions 
in order to get rid of it. The great excitement prevailing among the 
slaveholders at the South shows that they feel that the ground is sliding 
from under them ; that the institution, in v.'hich they have ventured their 
all, maintains its position by an uncertain tenure ; and that they feel 
that a great and glorious revolution is coming. I hope that revolution 
will be effected without bloodshed. That Slavery will be abolished, of 
course, is a matter of certainty, and every man may as well prepare to 
let it go down quietly as not. Go down it must, and our only choice is 
between allowing it to be extinguished by the operation of public repro- 
bation against it, or allowing it to be extinguished in blood. But, whether 
it expire in blood or in quietness and peace, our duty is clear, to labor 
for its speedy extinction, in the faith that the more boldly and earnestly 
we work against it, the greater is the proI)abi!ity that it will pass away in 
peace, and allow us to enjoy the institutions of the country undisturbed, 
and go on from present to still greater and ever-growing wealth and 
prosperity. (Applause.) 

Henry Grew, of Philadelphia. I have been greatly refreshed by 
hearing that very interesting document [the Declaration of Sentiments] 
read, and I hope it will be the means of stirring up our minds to more 
active service in the cause of Humanity. I have been delighted, this 
morning, in the contemplation of the lucid and excellent development of 
principles in the document read ; but there is one principle admitted 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 17 

in that document, which, in my liumble judgment, particularly requires 
our regard. It is a principle, which, in my view, gives value to the 
whole, and without which, all others would be worthless. I refer to that 
part of the docum.ent, to which our intelligent friend who has just pre- 
ceded mc also referred, but which he does not appear fully to under- 
stand. It is the principle, that after all the use of the means, the employ- 
ment of the faculties which God has given us, the powers with which he 
has distinguished Humanity, we are still dependant on his own Divine 
blessing. It is true, indeed, that all the powers of man are from God, 
the Author of all things, the ever-blessed source of all being, of all 
power, of all excellence. But to infer from this, that all man's powers 
are the powers of God, in the sense mentioned, and, therefore, that the 
man who trusts in his own power, trusts in God, does not appear to me 
to be either very logical, or to be in accordance with facts. If I have 
learned anything of human nature in the course of seventy years, I 
have learned that men of superior intellectual povvers, instead of trust- 
ing in God, have trusted in their own wisdom, and in their own powei^, 
and have been practical Atheists in the world. My belief is in the Word 
which abideth for ever, " Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and 
maketh flesh his arm : blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord, and 
whose hope the Lord is." How far our friend may agree with me, I do 
not know ; but I feel it my duty to bring this subject to your view. I 
have no hope for Humanity, but from the arm of Jehovah, and his bless- 
ing upon our feeble efforts. I remember the old fable of the man who 
called upon Jupiter to aid him, and was told to put his own shoulder to 
the wheel ; and I know that we cannot look for the Divine blessing in 
the prosecution of our work, unless we use the means which He has 
given us, and the powers which He has imparted to us. But remember, 
that with all the use of these powers, we are still dependant upon the 
Divine blessing ; and, thus depending on Him, I expect the fulfilment 
of our desires in respect to Humanity ; yea, I put my faith upon the one 
unerring Word — the Word. whose prophecies have been fulfilled from 
age to age, demonstrating it to be the Word of the Lord. I assure my- 
self, from the declaration of that Word, that the King is to reign, in 
righteousness on the earth, and that the rod of the oppressor is to be 
broken, and that this world, now darkened by man's depravity, is to 
shine bright in the glory of universal righteousness. " As I live, saith 
the Lord, the whole earth shall be filled with my glory." He will send 
His Son, for the restoration of all things. He shall come and sway 
the sceptre of righteousness and truth and justice and love, and Ameri- 
2* 



18 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

can Slavery, and all other Slavery, shall be banished from our earth, and 
we shall rejoice in the glory of an eternal day. 

Mr. Barker said he had no disposition to introduce a controversy of 
this character in the Convention. There was one denomination in 
the country which held that it was irreverent to interfere with the institu- 
tions of the nation, believing that God would do every thing in His own 
good time. Others held similar views, in a modified form, and in con- 
sequence, he had alluded to the subject, believing such views had a ten- 
dency to encourage inaction, and a " folding of the hands to sleep," in 
view of the gigantic wrongs of society, and was thus deeply injurious to 
the highest interests of Humanity. He lived and labored in the hope 
and the assurance that every good deed would have a good effect. 

The following preamble and series of resolutions were introduced by 
Mr. Garrison, from the Business Committee: — 

Whereas, The commemoration of the Second Decade of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society presents a favorable oppoi-tunity to renew its testimonials and to define its 
measures in regard to the overthrow of Slavery ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this Society, rejecting the use of all carnal weapons to effect its be- 
neficent object, relies alone for success on the constant promulgation of the truth, 
and its faithful application to the consciences and hearts of the people ; on " the 
opposition of moral purity to moral corruption, the overthrow of prejudice by the 
power of love, and the abolition of Slavery by the spirit of repentance." 

That it still maintains, as at the beginning, that every man who retains a human 
being in bondage as a marketable commodity, is a /nati -stealer. 

That any religion ■which recognises and sustains such a relation is spurious, 
having ho connection with heaven, unfit to be tolerated on earth, and presenting the 
most flagrant impiety toward God, and the utmost barbarity toward man. 

That, until the nature of man is changed, and the laws for the moral gov- 
ernment of the Universe are repealed, and a God of justice is blotted out of the 
Universe, it is not possible for Slavery to be right, under any circumstances ; and, 
therefore, all those who are held in chattel servitude should be immediately and 
unconditionally set free. 

That whatever government, statute, party, sect, church, creed, or parchment, 
assumes the rightfulness of the relation of master and slave, deserves to be execrated 
and rejected with horror, it being " a self-evident truth, that all men are created 
equal, and endowed by tlieir Creator with an inalienable right to liberty." 

That the rejection of this statement is a shameless repudiation of th& Declaration 
of Independence and the Golden Rule. 

That nothing is so important as to admit of the postponement of the slave's libe- 
ration, even for an hour — neither the preservation of the Union, nor the safety of 
tiic Church, nor the peace of society, nor the enfrancliisement of any people sub- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 19 

jected to civil despotism ; but it is to he demanded at all times, under all circum- 
stances, at Tvhatever cost. 

That the highest expediency and the only sound policy is obedience to the right ; 
lience, the abolition of Slavery being demanded by justice, cannot be injuious to any 
thing that of right ought to exist. 

After tlie reading of the resolutions, Henry' C. Wright came for- 
ward, and spoke as follows : — 

SPEECH OF KENRY C. WRIGHT. 

Mr. Chairman : 

I was happy to hear it announced in one of those resolutions, that 
Slavery is a wrong that nothing in the universe can make right. That 
is our strong point ; and if we give up that position, we give up our 
enterprise. V\'e have settled it, from the commencement of this move- 
ment, that Slavery fs a sin per se. 

That was the usual way of expressing our sentiments at that time ; 
but I like the expression of the resolution better, that Slavery is a self- 
evident wrong, which nothing can make right. No matter what, in the 
universe of God, is arrayed on the side of Slavery, instead of proving 
Slavery to be right, it proves itself to be wrong. The Church have taken 
ground in favor of Slavery. They have arrayed what they call the 
Bible, what they call Christ, what they call God, on the side of Slavery. 
We have discussed the question whether God sanctions Slavery, whether 
the Bible sanctions it. The Abolitionists have gone into that dis- 
cussion, and have spent much time and wasted much breath on those 
questions. Now, it is to me, and long has been, a matter of perfect in- 
difference, whether what a man recognises to himself as God sanctions 
Slavery or not, so far as settling the question whether it be right or wrong 
is concerned. I believe that every human being has in his own soul the 
evidence that is to settle this question, and settle it for ever. He knows 
it is wrong, when applied to his own case. He needs no testimony from 
God, aside from the instincts of his own heart. They settle the matter 
unmistakably, and tell him that Slavery is a wrong that cannot be made 
right. I\Ien have quoted text after text from the Bible to sanction Sla- 
very, and the feeling has been almost universal, that if you can get a text 
from the Bible in support of Slaver}^, Slavery must be right, rather than 
the Bible be wrong. I say, the day has been, when it was the almost 
universal feeling of the nation — it is now of the Church — that if the 
Bible be on the side of Slavery, Slavery must be right. This is placing 
the book above the testimony of God in every man's soul, which con- 
demns the system ; it is sacrificing the human soul to the record of a 



20 TIA^F-NTIETII ANXIVERSAVvY OF THE 

book. It matters not to me what the book says on the subject, so far as 
the question of right and wrong is concerned. Slavery is wrong, though 
every single Hne in the book, from beginning to end, should say it was 
right. (Applause.) It cannot be otherwise than wrong; and the man 
who arrays that book on the side of Slavery, is the deadly enemy of the 
book. The book cannot stand in the estimation of any honest man, for a 
great while, if it sanctions Slavery ; and the question whether it does or 
does not sanction Slavery is one that I will not discuss, though it seems 
to me that it may be made with propriety an Anti-Slavery question, for 
tlie Church has forced it upon us, and there are those in the Church who, 
when an Abolitionist appears here and there to quote the book on the 
side of Slavery, denounce him as an enemy of the book ; whereas, 
the whole Church, with nearly all the clergy of the country, quote that 
book on the side of Slavery ; and, at the present day, nine-tenths of the 
people of the nation believe that it sanctions that relation. 

A gentleman in the body of the liall, whose name we did not learn, 
interrupted Mr. Wright, observing that he knew more than a hundred 
churches in the country who never had held that the Bible was a pro- 
slavery book, and who had always refused to admit slaveholders to their 
communion. He thought it was wrong, therefore, for the speaker to 
make such sweeping and indiscriminate charges. 

Mr. Wright — If there be a dozen churches in the country opposed 
to Slavery, I am heartily glad of it. (Loud applause.) I only wish 
there were more ; and had the churches of the country taken a stand 
against Slavery at the outset, I do not believe the Abolitionists would 
ever have said one word, as Abolitionists, against the Church. I say, if 
the Mohammedan can find Anti-Slavery in his Koran, he has a right to 
stand here, and quote his Koran against Slavery. I wish he would do 
this ; and thus rebuke what is called the Christian Church in this coun- 
try. And if a Christian will come here, and array the Bible on the side 
of Freedom, why, let him do it. But does the gentleman pretend to say 
that the great mass of the Churches in this country — the Church as a 
whole — including all denominations. Catholic and Protestant — will ho 
stand up and say, that, as a body, the religionists of this country have 
not quoted that book on the side of Slavery, and are not at this hour on 
the side of that foul system? He dare not do it ! (Applause.) 

]Mr. . I believe that the majority of the members and minis- 
ters of the churches in the country wilt not say that the Bible upholds 
Slavery. It is not just to make such charges as you have made without 
proof. It is not right, Mi\ Wright, 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAYERY SOCIETY. 21 

Mr. Wright — I say ngain, that, at this hour, I believe -that all the 
great representative bodies of the Church of this country, including the 
Old and New School Genera] Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church, 

— including the Northern Methodist Conference and the Southern Metho- 
dist Conference, — including the Baptist Triennial Convention, (which, 
T believe, has become defunct, and merely to get rid of the discussion of 
the subject of Slavery,) — these three, the great leading denominations of 
the country, at their last General Meetings, dared net take the sand 
of Anti-Slavery at all, nor plead the cause of the down-trodden millions of 
our land. We have the record of their debates, which can be easily 
brought forward ; and we are to judge of these denominations as they 
speak through their organized bodies, which are the voice of the Church. 
Rut I will not stop to argue the question. What I have to say is this, 
that if every church in the world should declare Slavery to be right, they 
would only prove themselves wrong, and not Slavery right. If every 
word in the Bible declared Slavery to be right, the Bible would be wrong, 
and Slavery would be wrong, too, just the same. And if there were ten 
thousand messages, purporting to come from the Most High God, and 
were ten thousand miracles brought as the sign and seal of their divinity 

— even were the sun and moon commanded to stand still, and they should 
obey, — no matter what was done to prove the divinity of their commis- 
sion, and they should say, Slavery is right, it would only prove that they 
were wrong ; for they would stand in opposition to that law, written 
in the body and soul of man, — never to be eradicated, never to 
be suspended for an instant — which declares Slavery to be wrong, 
eternally wrong, and that it never can be made right. It is on that 
ground we must stand, or we have no fixed platform to stand upon at all. 

So with regard to the Constitution. What care I what the Constitution 
says in regard to the subject of American Slavery, so far as settling the 
question of right or wrong is concerned ? It is nought, utterly ; and 
I hope that Abolitionists will in due time learn never to appeal to the Con- 
stitution on the subject of Slavery, and never to appeal to the Bible, 
either to settle the right or wrong of a thing ; for if you have decided 
that Slavery be wrong, and that nothing can make it right, why do you 
pause to appeal to the authority whose decisions you have predetermined 
to set aside .? If you have decided Slavery to be wrong at the outset, why 
appeal to the Constitution on the question, when you have decided that 
if the Constitution declare against you, you will reject the Constitution.' 
Why appeal to a book to decide this question, when you have determined 
before-hand that if the book is against you, you will reject the book, and 
still adhere to your opinion .' My position is, never to appeal to a tribu- 



22 TWKNTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

nal, ill heaven or earth, whose decision I have determined to reject, if its 
decision is against nie ; and on this question of Slavery, I have to reject 
every tribunal in the universe, if its decision is against my belief in this 
matter. I so understand the question before us, and I am glad the ques- 
tion is placed right there. 

I \vish, while I am up, to mention another thing. We hear a good 
deal said of a trial by jury for fugitive slaves. I believe the time is not 
distant when Abolitionists will scorn to talk about a trial by jury in such 
cases, when they will cease to talk about the question of allowing it 
to be discussed at all, whether a man shall be placed before a tribunal on 
the question whether he is a man or a iriite. Away with your trial by jury, 
and away wi h every court before whom a man is arrayed on the question 
— Is he a man or a hrute 7 no matter who sits on the bench. I say, let us 
at once reject the idea of having a man brought before our courts on such a 
question as that. Of all the outrages the city of Philadelphia has ever wit- 
nessed, since it was a city — of all the \yrongs that were ever perpetrated 
in this city — of all your murders, of all your midnight incendiarism, 
and of all your robberies, this is the greatest and most heaven- 
daring wrong — the arraigning of a man before any tribunal on the 
question. Is he a man or a brute .'' Such an idea is most horrible ! Here 
are your Quakers, your Presbyterians, your Episcopalians — here are 
your two hundred churches in this city ; and yet, from year to year, ever 
since I have known the city, you have been in the habit of allowing men 
.to be put on trial on such a horrible issue as that ! God save us ! I say. 
Not even a jury trial to stand between them and the foulest, the most 
cruel wrong ! 

If your Judge Grier were a man, he would hurl his miserable com- 
mission in the face of the man who gave it to him, rather than sit in 
judgment on such a question. If your Marshals, your Commissioners, 
your Judges, your Mayors, had the feelings of a human being, they 
would scorn to act on such a question as that. (Applause.) Of all the 
wrongs ever witnessed on earth, or that ever will be witnessed, such delib- 
erate, cool, systematic diabolism as that, never was perpetrated since 
God made this world. That question of jury trial has got to come up, 
and the sooner the better. 

Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, I want to say one v.-ord, not to call 
in question any thing my friend Barker has said, but simply to express 
the deep regret I feel when I hear any man talk of any thing good in this 
country, in its original national capacity. We have our good institutions ; 
but, to great numbers of our citizens, they are any thing but good. 
These very means of advancement arc the means of destruction to the 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 23 

colored people ; they are the means of educating the country to pro- 
slaveryism. Our schools, our colleges, our presses, our churches, our 
judiciary, our legislative halls, all the freedom of the country, have 
thus far been enlisted on the side, not of oppression merely, but of 
absolute chattel slavery. I maintain that there is not, on this globe, a 
government so steeped in blood, so unjust, so hoi'ribly tyrannical, so des- 
titute of mercy, so utterly malignant, as the government of the United 
States. I speak of the government, as a government, of course, and not 
of the people. "What is the national government but the sustainer 
and upholder of Slavery? What has it done but watched over 
the interests of the infernal system } To what, at this present hour, is 
the government of the United Slates entirely and absolutely committed, 
but to extend Slavery — to support, and perpetuate, and spread it, as far 
as possible .? 

Sir, is there a government on this globe that would dare to put on its 
legislative records the Fugitive Slave Law .'' Not one ! Is there a 
government on the globe that would deliberately, systematically and per- 
severingly arraign men before its judiciary on the question — Is he a 
man or a brute ^ I challenge any man to show that there is one. 

Sir, is there a government on the globe that ignores the existence of 
one-sixth of its population as human beings .? Is there one beside 
ours .'' 

S. J. May — Yes. Brazil and Spain. 

P.Ir. Wright — My brother May says yes ; but I beg leave to say, that 
Slavery in all the Spanish colonies is not so vile and tyrannical a system 
as the Slavery of the United States. They have laws to protect the 
slave, in some degree ; we have none. 

There is another feature of peculiar atrocity in our Government. 
The universal law of Humanity is, that the child shall follow the condi- 
tion of the father. In all the nations of the earth, this is recognised as 
a general law of our nature. Even among the rudest savages, this law 
is acknowledged ; but in this country, the nation has decided that the 
chtid shall follow the condition of the mother, and know no father. One 
sixth of all the children born in the nation know no father ; they " call 
no man father." WHiere in this world can you find any thing equal to 
that } Where, I ask my friend Barker, and I ask this audience, where 
can you find on the globe a nation that deliberately makes it a crime, 
punishable with death, to teach a fellow-being to read even the name of 
the God that made him.? — even to read the Scripture record, which, 
you say, contains the will of the Almighty concerning him } Where, 



24 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

on tlie face of the globe, can you find a nation so utterly sunken in ini- 
quity as to make it a crime punishable with death for a man to attempt to 
improve his condition on earth, in any shape or form ? — to raise himself 
from the condition of a beast to that of a man ? I say, this government 
arrays all its powers, executive, legislative and judicial, against a man's 
raising himself from the condition of a beast to that of a man. It says, 
" YoL) are a brute, and you shall be a brute, and your children shall be 
brutes, if we can keep you thus." 

I do not believe there is another government in the universe which 
has been guilty of such atrocities as this government of the United 
States. Can you sliovv mc a single act of justice and mercy done 
toward the American slave by this government .? Not one. Its whole 
course has been against him. The whole object of the Government has 
been to baptize what the nation saw fit to legalize ; so that at this hour, 
one sixtli of the children born in this land, inheriting our nature, " bone 
of our bone, and flesh of our flesh," and having the same destination 
before them, are yet groping about among beasts and creeping things, 
feeling after God and immortality. 

Esther Moore, of Philadelphia, said that the remarks of Mr. Barker 
M'ere so fully in accordance with her feelings and experience, that she 
could not forbear the expression of' her gratification in having listened to 
them. She had often been told that she had better let this question of 
Skivery alone, and leave it for God to settle, who would do it in his own 
good time. She regarded this doctrine as pernicious, and calculated 
seriously to retard the onward progress of this holy enterprise, and was 
therefore glad to hear it spoken against. Every man living, and espe- 
cially tlie man who had the New Testament in his hand, and read it with 
any desire to understand it, knew that every human being has the right 
to Liberty. But men were disposed to indolence, and were unwilling to 
engage in the discussion and agitation of this subject, so important to the 
welfare of the country ; especially when they could console themselves 
in their inactivity and listlessness by the reflection that God would dis- 
pose of the subject at his own pleasure, and that they can sit idly down 
and leave the work to him. 

There was no language, the speaker thought, that could do any injus- 
tice to Slavery, for it was the greatest abomination under heaven. It 
eclipsed every other wrong on the face of the earth. Just to think of 
a brother, a human being, made a chattel, a chattel personal, his 
brotl'.er claiming a right to buy and sell him, and drive him, like the 
beasts of the field ! Why, it was astonishing, it was fcarftd, it was par- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 25 

alyzing to every Christian heart. She wished that tliey would all look 
about them, and ascertain their duty; and having learned this, be up 
and doing. A great deal was to be done. Heaven had declared that 
this people should be free ; but how was it to be done .'' Had they not 
all seen, in former ages of the world, that God worked by human instru- 
mentalities ? So He would continue to work, and it was preposterous to 
talk of sitting down and waiting until He shall rise, and declare that the 
bonds of the captive shall be broken in some other Vv'ay. 



SPEECH OF WM. L. GARRISON. 

Among the many absurd charges brought against the Abolitionists is 
this — that they are so given to the use of extravagant languao-e, so 
sweeping in their charges, and so unsparing in their denunciations, that 
they alienate all sober and judicious persons, who desire to have just the 
right thing said, at the right time, in the right way, and in the right spirit. 
Now, I have very little doubt in my mind, that there are some in this 
audience, who, having listened to the remarks of our friend FIenry C. 
Wright, imagine that what he has been saying fully justifies this popu- 
lar objection to our course. How harsh his speech ! How extravagant 
his statements ! And this it is which is retarding the Anti-Slavery cause, 
and preventing the deliverance of the slave, no body can tell how lono-! 
Well, if there be any extravagance in his remarks, in the minds of any 
who are present, I suppose it was deemed to consist partly in this — that 
he insisted, that no matter what any book, or any man or body of men 
might teach in vindication of Slavery, still, Slavery is a wrono-, an out- 
rage, and a crime, and ought to be di-iven from the earth. This was his 
presentation of the question: — You may say that the Bible sanctions 

Slavery — no matter ; j'^ou may say that the Church sanctions Slavery 

no matter ; you may say that the Constitution and Government of the 
country sanction Slavery — no matter ! Skiver}'^ is a self-evident wronff 
and therefore ought to be abolished. Now, is this extravagant? I ap- 
peal to the American people — because, while men may object to be 
measured by my standard, and say that they cannot recognise it, they 
have no right to complain if I measure them by their own — and 1 ask 
how is it possible for us to be extravagant in our denunciations of Sla- 
very ? Let them answer that question. Let them settle it with the fathers 
of the Revolution ; the men who took up arms to oppose a threepenny 
tax on tea, and resisted unto blood even the " menace of a chain " ; the 
men whose deeds we commemorate on every Fourth of July, and whom 
we teach our children to remember with veneration and gratitude. 



26 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

There is our boasted Declaration of Independence — what do you say 
of it? What is it? Is it true or is it not? Are you prepared to throw 
it into the fire as a falsehood ? One thing or the other must be done ; 
either accept the Declaration, and vindicate the rights of all men, or else 
burn that great instrument as false and dangerous, and give its ashes to 
the four winds of heaven. "What is its language? "We hold these 
truths to be self-evident: — that all men are created equal; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among 
which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ; — and if self- 
eindcnt, no matter what any book, tribunal, or power on earth may say 
to the contrary. So that our friend Mr. W^right has been simply reit- 
erating the Declaration of Independence, in another form. But he has 
not transcended it. There is no transcending it. It is radical, to the 
overthrow of whatever upholds or countenances Slavery, or makes any 
compromise with oppression in any form. Hence, nothing alarming has 
been uttered this afternoon — nothing extravagant. 

Let us take another view of this matter. Our friend spoke of this 
Government as being preeminently cruel, oppressive and impious. Of 
course, he did not mean that it is so in its treatment of the mass of the 
people ; for, in speaking thus, he included them in the governing power 
— for they make and are responsible for the government; — but as 
;against three millions and a half of the inhabitants of this country, cer- 
tainly there is no such government in the world, on the score of immo- 
rality, barbarity and impiety. In the first place, we sin against greater 
light than any other people. We begin by affirming it to be a self- 
evident truth, that " all men are created equal," and then proceed to 
turn every sixth person in the land into a mere piece of property. In 
the second place, no man will deny, who intelDgently understands the 
facts of our history, that the whole power of this Government, from its 
inception to the present day, has been wielded for the extension and per- 
petuity of the slave system. I repeat, therefore, nothing extravagant fell 
from the lips of our friend Wright. 

There is oppression in the world, grievous to be borne — which Hu- 
•nnanity cannot much longer endure — which is destined to be overthrown. 
It is, for example, the despotism of Austria as against Hungary. Yet even 
tliat despotism whitens into virtue, and blossoms into liberty itself, in 
comparison with the oppression of our country, as exercised towards 
three and a half millions of the people. Think of it ! It is only neces- 
:sary for God, by his own almighty power, this hour bodily to take up 
those fettered millions, and transport them to Austria, and the moment 
their feet touch its soil, in spite of the civil despotism which there pre- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 27 

vails, that very government will instantly recognise every one of them 
as a human being, and give him his rights as a'n Austrian subject, no 
longer to be a marketable commodity. And this is Austria — as against 
America ! Yes, it only needs tliat every slave in our land should put his 
foot on the deck of an Austrian vessel, or on a rood of Austrian soil, and 
that moment he becomes transformed, as by a miracle ! He ceases to 
be a thing, and is hailed as a human being, whom God intended for per- 
sonal freedom. In Austria, they do not buy and sell human flesh. In 
Austria, a man is a man, to the extent of his identity, and with regard to 
many of his rights. Every man may acquire property, and find as great 
security for it as in the United States. Every man is allowed to culti- 
vate his own faculties — under adverse circumstances, it is true, but as 
best he may — only he must not meddle with the Emperor and his sway ; 
and then he shall find protection under it. The right of the subject to 
his fireside, to his wife, and to his children, is secured. The Emperor 
dare not attempt to desolate the hearthstone of the humblest peasant- 
He holds himself amenable to law, to the extent of recognising the 
family relations, and the right of man to the possession of himself, and 
to whatever he may earn. The contrast, therefore, is immensely against 
us, as a people, so far as our slave population is concerned. I merely 
allude to this, to show to any who may feel disposed to infer, from any 
thing that has been uttered here, that the charge of extravagance against us 
is well-founded, tliat such a conclusion is not justified by the facts in the 
case. 

" On such a theme, 't were impious to be calm, 
Passion is reason, transport temper here ! " 

Rev. John J. Kelley, of New Bedford, (colored,) spoke briefly, but 
with great earnestness, in favor of the plainest and most uncompromising 
language with regard to Slavery and all its abettors. 

Henry Grew. I cannot agree with my friend Wright in the declar- 
ation, that no power in the universe can make Slavery right, under any 
circumstances. It is a matter of fact, that although the Bible does not 
allow such a species of Slavery as American Slavery, yet it docs allow a 
system of bondage which implies that one man may be, in some sense, 
the property of another. That bondage was allowed to the children of 
Israel, but there were provisions connected with it, which would root up 
American Slavery to the very uttermost. I claim that God has a right 
to do that which man has no right to do ; that he had a right to allow the 
children of Israel to buy bondmen and women, and make them their 



28 TWENTIETH AMNIVERSARY OF THE 

servants, in the sense indicated, as much as he had a right to command 
the children of Israel 'to slay the Canaanites for their sins, making them 
the executioners of his righteous vengeance. 



SPEECH OF REV. SAMUEL J. MAY. 

Mr. President : 

It has been suggested to me, that probably I have some other reminis- 
cences of the Convention we are assembled to commemorate, and I have 
been requested to give them to this meeting. I have a number ; some 
of them, perhaps, rather amusing, others of a more serious character. 

Most of us who were of the Convention of 1833 arrived in this city on 
the morning of the 3d of December. On our way from New York to 
Philadelphia, — Mr. Garrison being of the party, — considerable excite- 
ment was created on board, when it was ascertained that Abolitionists 
Avcre there. After a while, we found Mr. Garrison in close conversation 
with a gentleman, who, v/e learned, was a Southerner. The conversation 
was very earnest, and somewhat protracted. Mr. Garrison, of course, 
exhibited our views and purposes to the gentleman with his wonted clear- 
ness, and with his wonted kindness of manner. The gentleman at- 
tempted to expose the foolishness, as he thought, of the Anti-Slavery 
undertaking, and the fallacy of the arguments by which Mr. Garrison 
maintained the course he took. As you may suppose, however, he was 
driven from his various positions with great ease. Towards the close, 
he said, "Well, sir, one thing I will say, that I have been exceedingly 
gratified with the manner in which you have conducted the conversation. 
I had thought very badly of the Abolitionists ; and," said he, '• I suppose 
if you were like that Garrison, of v/hom I have heard so much, I should 
have witnessed some of the evil spirit which is attributed to them." Of 
course, I cannot remember the precise language, but he was admiring 
the language of the man with whom he had been conversing, while he was 
criticising the tone and temper of the leader of this great reform. We, 
of course, laughed very heartily at this mistake, and when we assured 
him that he had been conversing with Mr. Garrison himself, he supposed 
we were trifling with him ; that it could not be the man of whom he had 
heard such evil reports. 

On the evening of our arrival in Philadelphia, some twenty or thirty 
of us met at the house of Joseph Sharpless — (who kept what was then 
called, I believe, " the incendiary boarding-house") — for the purpose 
of making some preliminary arrangements for the meeting. Our arrival 
in the city had caused great excitement ; the newspapers were out upon 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 29 

US in the severest terms of denunciation ; and there was not a little 
apprehension, among the friends of the cause in the city, that we should 
be seriously molested. Not wishing, of course, to meet with any useless 
trouble, wo cast about, in our advices with one another, as to what had 
better be done, in view of this state of things. Most of us being 
strangers in Philadelphia, it was suggested that if some person, well 
known in the city, would consent to preside over our Convention, it 
would be something like a guarantee to the citizens, that we were not 
the reckless band of incendiaries that the newspapers represented us to 
be. [Of course, we shall be but little gratified at telling this part of the 
story; but we have so much to exult over, that it may be well to hum- 
ble ourselves in the confession of our folly.] A Committee of five or 
six were chosen to wait upon a certain gentleman in this city, a promi- 
nent member of the Society of Friends, since deceased, who had often 
avowed himself interested in the Anti-Slavery cause. We were directed 
to say to him, that we should be very happy if he would become a 
member of the Convention, and, as we were not known in the city, 
preside over its deliberations, ^^'^e waited on him, and were received 
in the most courteous manner ; but so soon as we made known the pur- 
pose of our visit, tliough there was nothing like repulsion in his reply — 
(he was a gentleman of the first respectability, moving in what are 
called the highest circles of society, counting height as this world counts 
height) — it was evident that he was not the man we had taken him to 
be. He excused himself in one way and another, very courteously^ 
indeed, but .still, as we thought, with very great determination. How- 
ever, he dismissed us with saying, that he would take the subject to his 
pillow, and if he found it to be his duty, he would, of course, appear at 
the meeting, and accede to our request. When we came out upon the 
steps of his door, Beriah Green turned somewhat abruptly, and said 
to us — " Don't you feel small } I do. This hunting about for a Presi- 
dent ! Why, if there isn't timber enough in our Convention to make a 
President of, let us go without one ! " The next morning, we came 
together in a very different spirit, feeling somewhat ashamed of our 
hesitation or timidity, if you please to call it so, on the night previous, 
and we elected Beriah Green as our President ; and he proved to be a 
man in whom there was " timber " enough to make half a dozen Presi- 
dents, if the Convention had needed so many. All who were there 
will remember how nobly he met and sustained every measure that was 
proposed there, and none who were present can forget the solemn^ 
sublime and thrilling speech with which ho closed that Convention. 
He remarked how happy we had been and how united, notwithstanding 



30 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

the threats of disturbance ; but he forewarned us that we were going 
forth into tlie w'orld to give battle to an enemy that was a thousand-fold 
strong, and that would not suffer himself to be assailed without attempt- 
incr, at least, the extermination of his assailants. The admonition was 
wise and timely ; and it is among my reminiscences of that year, that 
the very man who uttered that prediction, was the first to be put in 
jeopardy of his life. In the city of Utica, an Anti-Slavery meeting was 
held, which he presided over, and at which he spoke, and thus became 
the especial object of hatred to the infuriated mob, and escaped as best he 
could, with others of the Convention, from Utica to Peterboro', where 
the}" were generously entertained by that noble man, Gerrit Smith, who, 
with all his Abolitionism, is to take his scat, next Monday, in the Congress 
of these United States. (Loud applause.) 

I mentioned, this morning, that several women addressed the meeting 
in the course of the proceedings of the Convention, and endeavored to 
pay — (if I did not, it was because my language did no justice to my 
thought and feelings) — a tribute to the value of their contributions. It 
was cordially acknowledged at the time. Every one felt that we had 
been strengthened, that we had been quickened by their presence, and 
by the clearness of their vision of moral truth and right, and by the 
calmness and steadiness of voice and of manner with which they had 
advocated some of the highest principles and measures that were pro- 
posed. But it is rather amusing, and it will show how far we were then 
behind this age, that when we came to sign the Declaration, no woman 
was asked to append her name to the document. I do not know that a 
woman there thought of proposing to do it. If I remember rightly, their 
names were not even given in the account that was published of our 
proceedings ; but this I am sure of, that you will look in vain for their 
names upon the Declaration of those sentiments and purposes, which 
they so ably helped us to perfect. Were we to come together to-day for 
such a purpose, who doubts that we should as earnestly insist upon their 
names appearing on the document that should be prepared, as we were 
then grateful for the assistance they gave us in preparing it ? But, un- 
doubtedly, the words that we heard on that occasion from them, and the 
assistance we felt we had received, prepared us to embrace the cause of 
the rights of w^oman, when that cause came to be uplifted to our notice 
and just regards. ' 

Two or three years after, I think, it was reputed that two excellent 
women from South Carolina were in the city of New York, and several 
gentlemen, among whom were Lewis Tappan and Amos A. Phelps, were 
most anxious that these ladies (I allude, of course, to Angelina and Sarah 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 31 

Grimke) should favor the women of New York with some account of 
what they themselves had known of Slavery. They did so ; and one 
and another of the curious brethren, having a little of the spirit of mother 
Eve in them (laughter), put a listening ear into those meetings. At last, 
it was whispered about in the city, that there were no meetings like those, 
and ere long, in spite of the sense of impropriety on both sides, the 
meetings were indeed motley ones, if not about equally made up of men 
and women. Then it was that first arose the question, whether women 
should be allowed to take part in our public meetings. Often before 
that, in meetings of Anti-Slavery Societies, we had been assisted by 
those excellent, gifted women, LA'dia Maria Child, Maria W. Chapman, 
Eliza Lee Pollen, in the preparation of resolutions, and in the suggestion 
of most pertinent thoughts, that one or another of the brethren uttered. 
But after these meetings of the Misses Grimke it was that the great 
question arose, whether women should speak in our meetings. With the 
history of that controversy, you are too familiar to require that I should 
detail it here ; suffice it to say, that it was the pretext, if not one of the 
causes, of the division which broke out in our ranks, and separated 
a portion of those from us whom' we hoped would labor with us to the 
last. 

I will not detain you longer with the recollections connected with that 
most interesting event of my life. I spoke onl}^ in answer to the sug- 
gestion of others, and will not further occupy the time. 

The Society then adjourned to 7 o'clock, P. M. 



FIRST DAY — Evening Session. 

The Society met as adjourned, the large hall being filled with a highly 
intelligent audience. 

At the opening of the session, the President read the following com- 
munication from the Quarterly Meeting of Progressive Friends at Ken- 
nett Square : — 

To THE Second Decade Meeting of the Ameeican Anti-Slavert Society : 

Dear Friends, — At Kennett Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Pro- 
gressive Friends, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, held the '2'.)th of the 10th month, 
1853. 

This meeting, uniting and cooperating with the Anti-Slavery and other reforma- 
tory movements of the day, unitedly concur in appointing the following delegation 
to represent us in the approaching Decade Meeting, to he held in Philadelphia on 



32 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

the third, fourth tinil fifth of the twelfth month next, viz. : Dr. Bartholomew Fus- 
sell, Mabel Pyle, John Cox, Benjamin Pyle, Esther Hayes, Castner Hanway, Edwin 
Chambers, Ruthannay Way, Hannah Cos, Sallie Chandler, Isaac Mendenhall. 

Extracted from the minutes. 

William Baknard, J ^/^^_ 
Sarah Preston, ) 

Mr. Garrison, in behalf of the Convention, expressed the high grat- 
ification which was felt at this evidence of sympathy and cordial co- 
operation, and welcomed the excellent and worthy delegates to a partici- 
pancy in the deliberations of the Convention. 

The Resolutions presented at the morning session were again read, 
and the President (Mr. Garrison) called on Thomas Whitson, of 
Christiana, Pa., to address the audience. 

Mr. Whitson said he felt under considerable embarrassment on rising 
to speak to such an assembly, in company with those individuals whom 
he admired more than any other in the world — the uncompromising and 
faithful Anti-Slavery men. He once read of a barber who undertook to 
shave a man with an exceedingly dull razor, and after he had been at work 
a little while, the man exclaimed, " O, Sir, have you no razor sharper 
than that ? " " I know it is not very sharp," replied the barber, " but hold 
still, and if the handle don't break, the beard is bound to come off." 
"So," said Mr. Whitson, "I will do as well as I can — if the handle 
don't break." (Laughter.) 

The speaker said they had had an interesting discussion that afternoon, 
and he had always liked the Anti-Slavery platform, because it did not shut 
out a man on account of his political or religious opinions. No body was 
accountable for those opinions but himself. He agreed with his friend 
Barker, in the sentiments he had expressed there, and believed that he had 
the true Orthodox religion, and that all who differed from him, in the 
fundamentals, were Infidels. If he understood him aright, he venerated 
nothing but that which is almighty, unchangeable, and which always pro- 
duces exactly the same results. When they went to look out the law 
of mathematics, they did not make Euclid's book authority on that mat- 
ter; they went into the investigation of the great principle of mathema-' 
tics itself; and then, when they had ascertained that, and saw that Eu- 
clid had the same idea, they endorsed Euclid, just so far, as good au- 
thority on mathematics ; and if they went on, and found an error in 
Euclid, they would then reject him, and say, he is not almighty ; it is 
the principle only that is almighty. So it was with all the sciences — 
mechanics, astronomy, chemistry ; all authority on the powers of these 
sciences was valuable to us only so fixr as it agreed with our knowledge of 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKY SOCIETY. 33 

their fixed laws. Hence, tlicy worshipped no book, honored no master, 
but worshipped the great principle itself — those eternal and fixed laws 
that sustain the universe, changing not, neither having the shadow of 
change in them. It was impossible for the mathematician not to venerate 
the law of mathematics, or for the chemist not to venerate the law of chem- 
istry. 

So it was in the law of morals. When they went into the study of 
what right and wrong are, they went into the calculation on the very 
same principle on which they entered into the consideration of the sci- 
ences — that there is an eternal, ever-existing law, that changes not, and 
produces always exactly the same results ; and their veneration was stead- 
fast towards such a law. They admired the law of justice, because of its 
fixedness ; it alwa3's produced the same result. 

Their friend Barker had said that all movements, in Church or State, 
that were not in accordance with the truth, were powerless, because there 
Avas nothing powerful but truth ; and that there was nothing in the uni- 
verse but what must go down, that is not in accordance with scientific 
law, intellectual or moral. The resolution spoke of something that 
ought not be, because in opposition to the law. They could talk about 
justice, and they could demonstrate what it is. They could prove it, by 
reversing the process, just as, in mathematics, they proved a proposition 
by reversing the process. If he undertook to try what justice was in his 
actions towards one of them, he reversed the process, and asked himself 
whether he would consider it just if the individual should act so toward 
him ; and if he found he would not so consider it, he had as good a right 
to reject it, as not in accordance with justice, as he had to reject any 
problem in mathematics that would not come right when it was reversed. 
lie tried the law of mercy in the same way. What would be merciful 
for them to do towards him, that was merciful for him to do towards 
them. 

How did he do this ? He did it by the power of which his friend 
Barker had spoken ; by the power incorporated in his existence as a man, 
as a rational and moral being. By the cultivation of his intellectual and 
moral faculties, those faculties were expanded, and he became able to 
make further investigations ; and as he became more and more acquainted 
with this deep law, this universal, unchangeable law, he venerated it the 
more highly, because he saw that it was all beautiful, and that it worked 
the same eternal right and equality to every man. 

Fie knew that there wore those who believed that there was a power 
behind this great principle, which brought it into existence, nnd which 
was the almighty power; but as he could not go further than what he 



34 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

knew, lie preferred worsliip])ing the God lie-»kne\v, and would leave to 
others tlic settlement of what is behind these great principles. He 
knew only the principles. If there was some incorporated being or 
power behind them, that was essential to their existence, well and good — 
they might believe that; but if he did not say but that they were the 
sustaining power themselves, they would excuse him. They were not 
accountable for his shortness of sight. 

The s; eaker said he would advise all men to try every holy writ and 
every holy man by this standard of absolute and unchangeable principle, 
and then, if they were found to correspond and harmonize with it, they 
could venerate knowingly — they could worship the known, and not the 
unknown God. Principle, not man, was to control the world. Give to 
one man the truth, and the whole world the error, and the single 
man was mightier than all the rest ; and this was the reason why he be- 
lieved in moral suasion, in moral force. If he went into any discussion, 
and did not base himself on this principle, the power of his opponent was 
equal to his own. If he went to the ballot-box to decide a question of 
right or wrong, any man's vote was equal to his. But if they were to 
decide what was philosophical, the philosopher's power was more than 
that of ten thousand on the opposite side ; he put them all to flight. 

He (the speaker) did not admire any man. He liked President Pierce 
as much as he liked William Lloyd Garrison, but he did not like what 
President Pierce did. He hated and despised it ; hated it, as he hated the 
adversary of all good. He loved what William Lloyd Garrison did ; and 
loved that which was right, wherever he saw it. So, they would see it 
was not men he venerated. He paid no worship nor homage to the crea- 
ture, but to the great principle. He did not believe that President Pierce 
would succeed. He had the people on his side, but the Abolitionists had 
right on their side. He might be naturally as intellectual as they were, 
but it was very hard for the most ingenious intellect to prove what is false, 
or make what is wrong right. If President Pierce could do what he had 
undertaken, then he could overturn all that was omnipotent. 

Now, as he was somewhat of a theologian, he must touch a little on 
that subject. Some theologians had set up a being and book, somewhere, 
and they subjected the principle to the being and book ; and hence the prin- 
ciple suflcred. 

J. Miller McKim, of Philadelphia, rose to a point of order. He 
thought the remarks of the speaker were not relevant to any of the reso- 
lutions before the Convention. The question of theology opened a wide 
field, and he did not see where it would end. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 35 

The President (Mr. Garrison) thought that the speaker was in order, 
and was simply illustrating the doctrine, that it is demonstrative and self- 
evident that man was made by God to be free, and that therefore they 
might say that nothing could demand his enslavement. 

Mrs. Lucretia Mott, of Philadelphia, suggested that the remarks of 
friend Whitson were as relevant and equally in order with those of 
friend Grew. 

Mr. Whitson said he was an Anti-Slavery man, because he believed 
Slavery to be incompatible with immutable principles and fixed laws. 
If he had no knowledge of these fixed laws, he should not be an Anti- 
Slavery man. If he had no conviction that such laws were in existence, 
he could have no certainty that Slavery was wrong. He determined it 
was wrong from the very principles he had laid down. If he were to be 
asked, What is injustice ? he could point to American Slavery. If a man 
should tell him it was not injustice to enslave another, he would ask him. 
Would you be willing to be a slave .'' Would you be willing to subject 
yourself to all that Slavery subjects a being loo ? And if he said he 
would, he (Mr. W.) should not believe him, because he thought the rev- 
elation of his natural right to Freedom had been made to him, and he 
believed it was impossible for any man to venerate any power or being 
that would treat him as a slave. WMien he saw a principle — and he 
thought that was the Anti-Slavery principle, whether Anti-Slavery men 
had come up to it fully or not — which worked equally towards all men, 
which declared that all men have equal claims to liberty and knowledge, 
and to every thing that is naturally right, then he venerated that prin- 
ciple, because it worked thus equally to all men. 

But he would not stand in the way of abler speakers. He believed 
that what their friend Barker said was well, and he believed it would do 
more for the overthrow of Slavery, to bring men and women to the 
knowledge of these great, eternal principles, and to the veneration of 
them, than any thing else would. He had no hatred towards the slave- 
holders, and did not wish any injury inflicted on them. He did not 
believe that there was any man in the world who was such a friend to 
the slaveholder as the Anti-Slavery man. There was no such friend to the 
v,'orld as Christ was ; and yet those whom he came to befriend were the 
most clamorous for his crucifixion. So with them ; they were despised 
and hated, but if they could bring about emancipation, they should not do 
a much greater good to the slave than to the master. 

Mr. Whitson concluded his remarks by observing that he loved the 



36 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Anti-Slavery cause, because it was elevating in its very nature ; because 
it brouglit men up to a knowledge of those laws which are supreme and 
eternal. 

Miss Elizabeth C. Wright, of Ceres, Pa., said she felt obliged to 
express her dissent to the sentiment uttered by the last speaker, in 
his remark that he loved Franklin Pierce as much as he loved William 
Lloyd Garrison. She believed that declaration affected the whole fun- 
damental structure of human freedom. They had got to plant them- 
selves on the fundamental rock of individual responsibility. They had 
fTot to prove that every man or woman in the wide world was master of 
himself or herself, and that no one else had the right to interfere with 
him or her, in any possible way, so long as they interfered with none 
others. That was the sum and substance of the whole thing. If they 
could say that they loved the great sinner, as a man, as well as they 
loved another, whom they believed upright and holy, she did not see 
w hat w as to become of tlie doctrine of individuality, or the responsibility 
we were all under to God. Our individual rights were no more to be 
trespassed upon than our responsibilities, for they must inevitably go 
together. The making a man a slave took away his right to discharge 
his duties. When God created us, he gave us not only these inalienable 
rights, and made us feel the consciousness, in our own souls, that these 
rights belonged to us, and to none others, but he gave us, at the same 
time, certain duties to perform, and made us capable of certain relations ; 
and when v.'c entered into those relations and duties, they were as self- 
evident as the rights by which we attained them. If a man, or any 
number of men, became the proper!}^, the personal chattels of another 
man, then all their responsibilities were merged in him ; and God never 
gave a human soul to any mortal being great enough, expansive enough, 
to discharge the responsibilities of more than one soul. She felt that 
there was a great and terrible responsibility resting upon all who allowed 
those heavy burdens to be borne by others, which they would not allow 
themselves to touch with their little fingers. In a certain sense, she 
believed that "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God ; " — not re- 
sistance by carnal weapons, not resistance unto blood and death, but 
resistance with that strong moral force that is in every soul. She be- 
lieved that principles were a part of God ; and she believed, also, the 
matlicmatical axiom, that the whole is equal to the sum of all its parts, 
and, therefore, that every virtue is a part of God, and goes to make up 
the sum of the whole great Deity. 

Miss Wright said she had been an Abolitionist all her life, in great 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 37 

good earnest, and she did not feel afraid of forfeiting any reputation that 
was good for any thing, by advocating God's own truth. (Ai){)Iause.) 
When she used the words of Jesus, "All things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," she did not believe 
she was guilty of heresy ; neither did she think their friend Barker was 
when he said the same thing. She did not believe it was any heresy, if 
they went out and proclaimed to the world those self-evident truths (which 
seemed to be very much in need of evidence, to the great mass of the 
world) set forth in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed 
the common equality of all men. 

Miss Wright concluded by saying that the idea she wished to advance 
was, that, in the sight of God, each man was just as great as another, 
unless, by obeying him more, having more virtue and more truth, he 
make himself greater; that, abstractly, whatever his position, 
" A man's a man for a' that." 

Mr. Whitson asked the speaker if she loved Garrison and Quincy 
better than Pierce. 

Miss W. Yes. 

Mr. Whitson. Why .? 

Miss W. Because I consider Garrison and Quincy right in their 
principles and actions, while those of Pierce I look upon as wrong. 

Mr. Whitson. Suppose the views of Garrison and Quincy should 
change, and become like those of Pierce ? 

Miss W. Then they would cease to be Wm. Lloyd Garrison and Ed- 
mund Quincy. 

Mr. WiiiTSON. Exactly ; and that is my position. -I do not see that 
there is any essential difference between us. 

Joseph Barker, of Ohio, again took the platform, observing, that as 
he hardly expected to have another opportunity to speak, after that eve- 
ning, he would, with the permission of his audience, make a few re- 
marks, in relation to the apparent difference of opinion between himself 
and his friend Henry C. Wright. He did not think it worth while to 
dispute whether America, with regard to its government, institutions and 
laws, was ahead of England, or England ahead of America ; or, rather, 
he did not think it worth while to dispute which of the sinners was the 
worst sinner, or which of two bad principles was the worst principle. 
The best plan was, having ascertained that two principles, or the exist- 
ence of two laws was bad, instead of spending time in disputing which 
is the worst, to set to work to get both abolished, and better ones put in 
their stead. (Cheers.) 

4 



38 TWKNTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

He could say a great deal to sliow that if the Aristocracy of Great 
Britain and Ireland were not as bad as our Southern slaveholders, they 
were at least the next bad set of men on the face of the earth (applause) ; 
and if he could not prove that the conduct of the English and Irish 
Aristocracy has been as purely selfish, unfeeling and cruel, towards the 
workino- classes, as the conduct of the Southern slaveholders towards 
their victims, he could prove that the difference, to say the least, was 
one in degree only, and that the effects of the misconduct of the Eng- 
lish and Irish Aristocracy have been more ruinous than the effects of the 
selfishness and cruelty of the Southern slaveholders. But if they should 
enter upon the consideration of these questions, they would not be direct- 
ing all their influence and energies to the one great object for which they 
were assembled, namely, the establishment of universal and impartial 
freedom throughout the world, and the abolition of ev'ery form of oppres- 
sion and wrong. Their object should be to endeavor to find where they 
could stand together, and in what way they could cooperate most har- 
moniously for the overthrow of oppression in this land, and in all other 
lands. 

There was one consideration which might comfort them, and that 
was, that, in warring with any one evil, they were warring with all evils 
that prevailed throughout the world. There was no country that did not 
•exercise a great influence over every other country; and if in this coun- 
try we had corrupt institutions, bad laws, an evil public sentiment, these 
operated injuriously upon every other country throughout the world ; and 
if we tolerated these evil institutions and wicked laws, and this corrupt 
public sentiment here, we were really strengthening the corrupt institu- 
tions, bad laws and evil public sentiment in every country within the 
reach of our influence. So, on the other hand, if some individuals said 
the Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland arc as guilty as our South- 
ern slaveholders, and that the part of the English and Irish is to labor to 
abolish it, they were in reality taking from Slavery one of its props; 
they were undermining it. It was on this account that the reformers 
could afford to differ; for while they were working in diverse fields, and 
occupying different positions, they were really working for the same 
object. It was not worth while for reformers to quarrel with each 
■other, because they differed in their modes of operation. They would 
never find the slaveholders rejoicing greatly because some Abolitionists 
wanted to reform Great Britain and Ireland, to abolish hereditary mon- 
archy and aristocratic land monopoly, while other reformers were directing 
their efforts to the abolition of Slavery here. But if these two classes 
»of reformers, iinstead of each working in its own field, and in its own 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 39 

way, should begin to quarrel, and not work at all, then, if they could 
hear how the oppressors chuckled and laughed, they would learn to 
lament the quarrels of reformers, and sec the necessity of their tol- 
erating each other, and encouraging each one to work in his own way. 

While the discussion had been "oinsj on during the afternoon, his 
mind was impressed with the great influence which this new country — 
it was a country which, in many respects, was unparalleled, both in its 
history and institutions — is exerting upon the countries of the old world. 
Dispute and differ as men might about this country, America, it was, 
after all, a great country, and no mistake ! (Laughter and loud cheers.) 
It was, in many respects, the wonder of all other countries. It was, in 
many respects, a prodigy of a stupendous and magnificent character ; 
and, in proportion to its greatness and the liberality of its institutions, 
was the attention it attracted from the other side the Atlantic, and the 
influence it exerted upon the sentiments and feelings of the old world. 
This country, say wliat they would, was exerting a modifying influence 
upon every other country under heaven ; even upon countries that are 
not acquainted with her institutions, and have scarcely heard her name. 
America, therefore, was doing something every hour, for good or for 
evil, for every class of men on earth, and for every country and govern- 
ment under heaven. Her influence was great, and was increasing 
every year. This country was destined to spread, to grow in popula- 
tion, to increase in power, in riches, and to attract every year more and 
more attention from abroad, and to exercise every year an increasing 
influence on all the nations of the earth. They formed a part of this 
nation, and it therefore became them to do what they could to make the 
influence which America exerts, and is to continue to exert, as bene- 
ficial and as little injurious as possible. 

How could they do this ? He said, at once, that the thing of all oth- 
ers that they had to do, was to abolish Slavery, and to bring all the insti- 
tutions and laws of this country into harmony with the best principles of 
our original Constitution, and the leading sentiments of the Declaration 
of Independence. (Great cheering.) If they could do this, they de- 
stroyed the power of any portion of America for evil, and increased the 
power of every portion for good. What was it that prevented America 
now from transforming the despotisms of Europe into liberal Democra- 
cies ? Simply the existence of abuses with which America can be justly 
charged. They talked of a Republic, and every sixth man and woman 
among them was a slave, a chattel, a victim to the lust and power and 
selfishness of the rest. They talked of reforming other nations, and 
they were tender, to a proverb, if any body undertook to reform them. 



40 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Tliov talked of restoring order in Europe, and encouraged riots and 
mob-law to put down the advocates of impartial Freedom. They talked 
about the wrongs of the oppressed, and their sympathy for the plundered 
and tortured people of Great Britain and Ireland, of Austria, Italy and 
Naples, and all this while they put the best men in the land in their dun- 
geons, for helping a fugitive on his way from the house of bondage, and 
try to convict men of treason because they would not stop the flight of the 
escaped bondman, at the bidding of the slaveholder. (Cheers.) So long 
as the tyrants and despots of Europe, and their paid editors and paid 
lecturers, could point to such instances as these, so long the influence of 
America was great for evil, and limited for good. 

Mr. Barker said he wrote home to England, and gave his friends there 
a picture of American society and institutions ; he endeavored to show 
the points in which our laws were more liberal (with respect to white 
men) than those of England ; and he sometimes took particular pains to 
point out the enormity of certain laws, on which the hereditary Aristoc- 
racy of Great Britain and Ireland is based, and by which its power to 
plunder and torture and kill is perpetuated. His friends wrote back 
to him, " We shall appreciate your commendations, and admit the force 
of your rebuke, when you have got rid of that Fugitive Slave Law, and 
have abolished Slavery ! " Of course, it was foolish and impolitic in any 
nation to refuse to share our glory, because we had not had the firmness 
to throw away every one of the evils that were fostered among us ; but 
they knew that a good dinner was not so pleasant from off a dirty plat- 
ter as from a clean one, and so our relish for good institutions was less- 
ened by the evil and mischief with which they were associated. Thus, 
the people of the old world could not do justice to what was liberal and 
just and humane and divine in our laws and institutions, so long as they 
saw that blackest of all stains and all shadows rising into frightful and 
gigantic dimensions, and throwing a melancholy shade over every thing 
that is beautiful in our land. 

He (Mr. Barker) had adopted this country as his country, and the 
country of his children. They admired this country more than their 
own. They wanted to be able not only to say a great deal that was 
good, but every thing that was good of it, and nothing that was bad. 
They wanted the country to be not only more honorable than any other, 
but honorable throughout. They wanted the influence which this coun- 
try exercised upon other countries not only to be good, but purely and 
unmixedly good ; and they wanted America to exercise an irresistible 
influence in transforming the despotisms and tyrannies of the old world 
into institutions purely liberal, just and impartial. They did this, not 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 41 

only out of regard for other countries, but out of regard for themselves. 
They did it in order to prevent the possibility of a servile insurrection ; 
in order to retain what they had already got that was good, and avoid 
what might threaten them that was evil. 

Besides all this, it was perfectly plain to him that they could not tole- 
rate Slavery in one part of the country, without subjecting themselves to 
a modified Slavery in every part of the country. They knew well that 
in the Southern States, the liberty of the white man had to be sacrificed, 
in order to prevent the black man from getting his liberty. There was 
no liberty, even for the slaveholders themselves ; they w-ere afraid to 
express sentiments friendly to freedom. So, in some degree, we of the 
North were enslaved by this great despotic and tyrannical evil. The 
North had got a Fugitive Slave Law, which made them kidnappers, 
man-hunters, bloodhounds. True, they could defy that law, as every man 
of intelligence, bravery, virtue and humanity did defy it ; but he could 
only do this by defying and setting himself in opposition to the govern- 
ment of his country. Just as the malaria which originated in one swamp, 
spreads itself and affects a neighborhood that has no swamp, so this one 
dead body of slavery, this one mass of moral putridity, would generate 
a malaria sufficient to spread over the whole land. " A little leaven 
leaveneth the whole lump;" a single spark will kindle the flame that 
forms a national conflagration. 

Slavery had already exerted a most depressing, deadening and cor- 
rupting influence upon Northern society. The two leading parties of 
the country only showed the natural influence of the toleration of a 
wicked and bad institution, when they both joined together in saying, 
" We must suppress agitation ; we must resist or discountenance free- 
dom of speech." If the nation would have Slavery, they must have the 
means of keeping their slaves. They must have their vigilance com- 
mittees, their watch-dogs ; they must arm themselves with their dirks 
and daggers, their bowie knives, and their rifles and revolvers. They 
must have their bloodhounds, and they must have their Fugitive Slave 
Lav/, to require the Northern people to become man-hunters ; and, of 
course, the tongues of the people must be tied, and the presses gagged. 
They could not have Slavery, without having all these evils which they 
deplored, and which they felt to be a curse and a disgrace and an infamy 
to the nation, as long as they remained. If they wanted to free them- 
selves from the disgrace of a partnership in government with women- 
whippers and man-hunters, if they wanted to have rulers that they could 
respect and love, if they wanted laws which they could approve, and 
institutions which they could admire, and a press that should be free, 

4* 



42 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

they must have done with this accursed evil of Slavery. It must be ex- 
tinguished, if they wished to extinguish the fearful evils which sprang 
from it. (Applause.) 

Mr. Barker said, that, in his opinion, the sentiments of his friend Mr. 
Whitson were correct. He (Mr. W.) thought that nothing deserved 
the name of Infidel but the subjugation of man's reason, judgment and 
conscience to the erroneous and uncertain standard of man's interest ; 
that the man who will subject the certain to the uncertain, the dictates of 
right and justice to the suggestions of interest or convenience, was an 
Infidel ; that the truly Orthodox man is he who finds truth, and sticks to 
it; who learns what is good, and, instead of sacrificing the good to an 
established institution, says, " I will make that bend to the good ; and if 
it won't bend, I will break it." (Loud cheers.) If he had not that 
spirit, he hoped he should " grow " so, as Topsy said. (Laughter.) But, 
if there were some people who called this Infidelity, if they said, " Be- 
cause you will not, out of reverence to a book, give up what, in your 
own heart, you know to be true, why, then you are an Infidel," then, in 
that sense, he was an Infidel ; but it was a bad name which they gave 
to a good thing. Nevertheless, he would have the good thing ; for he 
would rather swallow a wholesome substance with a poisonous label, 
than a poisonous substance with a healthful label. (Laughter and cheers.) 

His firm conviction was, that the people of this country were coming 
nearer to reason and nearer to truth than they were some time ago. 
This change had been going on more rapidly in districts and cities at the 
West, than even in the more populous cities of the larger States, where 
old established bad things had worked .with greater and more systematic 
power. He knew that there were exceptions ; that there were men who 
declared the Declaration of Independence a " rhetorical flourish," and 
who professed to believe that a colored person had not as good a right to 
live where he pleased as a white person ; and even in Ohio, he had met 
with men who would say (though he hoped they told a lie) that, under 
certain circumstances, they would as soon kill a " nigger " as a chicken 
or a turkey; but they were becoming rarer and rarer, and those who 
remained were not so ready to express their inhuman thoughts and their 
outrageous and diabolical feelings as they used to be. He lived in 
Knox county, (which might be spelt without the K — nox — in Latin, 
meaning night,) which was considered the darkest part of Ohio ; but 
even there, things were changing. In his town, one of the worst even in 
Knox county, the Free Soilers numbered twenty-four votes ; and if the 
election had occurred after he and his family took up their residence in 
the town, they would have added two or three votes more ; — and, for- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKY SOCIETY. 43 

merly, they could not muster one. The nation had progressed, and 
was progressing ; and when he saw persons, differing with respect to 
opposite and minor details, yet having no greater happiness than in find- 
ing how they could agree on essentials, and work together for the gen- 
eral good, the universal emancipation and salvation of mankind, then he 
thought that was another indication that the triumph of right over might 
was at hand, and that we have reason to believe that the dawn of a bet- 
ter day is upon us. (Loud cheers.) 

Edmund Qitincy, Esq., of Dedham, Mass., next addressed the audi- 
ence, as follows: — 

SPEECH OF EDMUND QUINCY. 
Mr. President : 

When you first introduced the resolutions before us, you said that they 
were mere truisms — mere axioms, which every person of fair intelli- 
gence and common sense would assent to. 1 could not help thinking of 
that remark, during the admirable address to which we have just listened. 
I could not help thinking how the very subject matter which had called 
this meeting together, the very things which we have assembled to con- 
sider and to attempt to do, are the merest truisms, the plainest axioms 
which mathematics, not to say politics, can present to the consideration 
of the human mind. Why are we met here together, sir.? Why did you, 
and those friends who met together twenty years ago, to form this Society 
— why did you come together at that time .'' What was it to do ? Why, 
it was to announce to the world that every man had a right to his own 
soul and to his own body. That is the whole head and front of the 
offending of the Abolitionists, that they have stood up before the Ameri- 
can nation, and affirmed that every man has a right to his own 
soul and body, and every woman, too. Can there be a simpler 
proposition than that .'' Can there be any thing in mathematics, not to 
say in metaphysics or in politics, more simple, or any thing that we would 
suppose more intelligible to the meanest capacity ? And yet, what has 
been the whole history of the country ? What is the present aspect 
of the country ? Why, the whole policy of the country has rested, and 
still rests, upon the denial of this fundamental principle of morals, upon 
the denial of this self-evident proposition, this axiom, which a savage 
we would think, a Mussleman, certainly — and, one would suppose, a 
Christian^ also — would consider incapable of being made clearer by 
any argument. 

I believe the Abolitionists have always scorned to argue this question 



44 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

at all. We have disdained to enter into any process of reasoning to prove 
that a man has a right to himself; that a man has a right to the fruits of 
his labor ; that a husband has a right to his wife ; that parents have a 
right to their children ; that women have a right to their virtue. For 
years, we have disdained to argue this question ; we have simply affirmed 
and reaffirmed the truth, and it has been that affirmation and reaffirma- 
tion which has brought down upon us the denunciations of priests and 
politicians; which has made the great Caleb Cushing himself — the man 
elected to Congress by Abolitionist votes — the Whig of Tyler's adminis- 
tration — the Polk-made General — the sent-to-China in defiance of the 
negative of the Senate at that time — the great Caleb Cushing himself 
say that these truths are to be " crushed out" — "crushed out" ! and 
any man suspected of the slightest taint of them, any man who was ever 
inoculated with this disease in his infancy or childhood, any man who 
ever had the faintest taint of these heretical, these venomous opinions — 
that a man has a right to himself, to his wife, to his child, to his wages — 
a man who has ever been thus tainted, shall be put to political death by 
electricity ! The mail is not quick enough ; he shall be politically exe- 
cuted by lightning ! (Laughter and cheers.) 

Well, sir, we do not think it is worth our while to argue this matter. 
The American people know that they lie when they deny this proposition. 
They know that we are in the right, and that they are in the wrong, for 
the reason which has been so ably set forth to-day — because they would 
not be put in the place of the slaves themselves ; because they would 
not consent to reverse the process. They would not consent to be put in 
the condition of this people, to keep whom in that condition these " here- 
sies " are to be " crushed out " by the whole weight which the power 
of the government, mighty as that power is, can bring to bear upon the 
ofTender. 

Well, sir, I think these are truisms — all truths are truisms; but they are 
truisms which must be repeated, which must be affirmed and reaffirmed, 
which must be uttered in the ear of the people, " line upon line, and 
precept upon precept," here a little and there a great deal, until the 
nation's belief has been modified by the continual presentation of the 
subject. Now, it is very strange that we cannot be understood. We 
have always tried to speak as plainly as we know how. I believe we 
have never been accused of mincing matters, or of going "■ round Robin 
Hood's barn," or of being parenthetical or hypothetical in our style of 
speech ; and yet, it seems almost impossible to make people understand 
us. People seem to suppose that we entertain some dreadful designs ; 
that we entertain opinions and that we propose plans which are volcanic, 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 45 

which are to result in some fearful eruption, which is to bury every good 
institution under a stream of lava, or a bed of ashes. Well, sir, I think 
we stand in the position of those persons who are so very transparent 
that they cannot be understood. Our propositions are so simple, that the 
people cannot take them in. So it is with regard to our position, with 
regard to our motives, our intentions, our principles. It seems very hard 
for people to understand what our motive is. I think Abolitionists do not 
always seem clearly to understand it. I believe my friend Joseph Bar- 
ker understands us pretty clearly, but I really thought he was a little 
confused in his clear mind as to the platform on which we stand. The 
Orthodox man, the Heretical man, the Infidel, the Mohammedan, the 
Atheist, the Whig, the Democrat, the Protectionist, the Free Trader, 
men of all sorts of opinions, and men of no opinion at all, who appre- 
hend and admit the enormities of slavery, and the duly of every honest 
man, every true patriot, and every man of true humanity, to endeavor to 
remove it — we all can work together, all pull in one direction, to help 
forward the car of Emancipation. 

Now, sir, what is our plan.'' It is the statement of the simplest 
proposition, one would think. I know a good many very worthy people 
— not only that, but very intelligent people, men of ability and of genius, 
too — who have said tome, " Why, I think your position is the most ab- 
surd thing in the world. It seems to me that the position of you Garri- 
sonian Abolitionists is the most ridiculous thing that can well be con- 
ceived. You propose to abolish the Union ; you propose to destroy the 
American Constitution ; — how preposterous! how ridiculous ! " Now, 
this statement is in one sense true, and in another sense it is not true. 
I do not suppose that we shall ever convert so many people to our way 
of thinking as literally to destroy this Union, and abolish Slavery by our 
becoming a majority. I never expect to see Mr. Garrison President of 
the United States, in virtue of his being President of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society. (Laughter.) I really do not. Our proposition is this. 
The Constitution of the United States contains certain requisitions, some 
good and some bad. It requires, as we hold — we holding with the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, with the nine hundred and ninety- 
nine thousandths of the people of the United States, with the entire 
bench and bar of the country, with every Congress that has ever sat, with 
every Congressman, except Gerrit Sjiitii, who has ever taken his seat 
in Congress, from the j'ear '89 down to this day — we hold that the Con- 
stitution of the United States recognises Slavery. We believe in the 
Compromises of the Constitution. We believe that the slave trade 
was guaranteed to the year 1808 ; we believe that the fugitive 



46 TWENTIETH ANNIVETISARY OF THE 

slave is to be restored, in some way or other, though we hold the pres- 
ent Fugitive Slave Law to be unconstitutional, and believe that the 
Supreme Court will so rule it, when it comes before them ; we believe 
that a Court composed of a majority of Southern States' Rights men will 
never affirm that law to be constitutional, for it opens a door through 
which, whenever the country becomes saturated with Anti-Slavery 
opinion. Slavery itself may be reached by the power of Congress ; for 
the views of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Rantoul, were not original with them ; 
it was Calhounism they enunciated. Calhoun would have opposed the 
Fugitive Slave Law, if he had lived long enough to speak his sentiments 
on the subject ; — but still, we do believe, that, in some way or other, the 
slave master has his right recognised by the Constitution of the United 
States. We never mean to obey that requisition. If the slave master 
docs not lose his property in the slave by his escaping into Pennsylvania, if 
the Constitution declares that he has a right to pursue and retake him in 
the State of Pennsylvania, and the State has no right to make any law 
declaring him free, and implies tliat he may bring as many persons as 
he pleases to aid him in retaking the fugitive, and the State of Pennsyl- 
vania has no Constitutional right or power to do any thing in his behalf, 
but engages to keep the peace, and let the master carry the slave back, — 
if these things are so, (and we believe they are,) then we say — Put it 
in its very mildest form, give it the fairest shape that the imagination can 
conceive, and yet it is too frightful for us to receive and embrace. We 
say it is mean, it is base, it is despicable, in the State of Pennsylvania, 
to say, when a man flies into her jurisdiction, and claims her protection — 
the weakest, the most despised, the most outcast of all human beings, the 
one most needing protection, the one most needing the aid for which 
civil government was created — a wretch, flying to her and claiming her 
protection and hospitality — we say it is base and despicable in her to give 
that man up. I say that the duty of Pennsylvania, as an independent 
Commonwealth — the true doctrine of States' Rights — can never be 
carried out under this Constitution, because that doctrine of States' 
Rights would enable Pennsylvania to say to the fugitive slave — "As 
long as you cling to the hem of my garment, I will protect you ; as long 
as you are kneeling at my feet, asking my assistance and protection, 
you shall have it, and you shall never bo taken back to Slavery, as long 
as a man in Pennsylvania has a drop of blood to be shed in your de- 
fence ! " (Loud cheers.) That I call the true States' Rights doctrine; 
and I have always been a States' Rights man, as was my father before 
me. He was the man who said, "New England will maintain her rights, 
peaceably if she can, forcibly if she must." 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 47 

Well, sir, that is one of the things we do not mean to do. We do 
not intend, as citizens of the several States to which we belong, to per- 
form this part of the Constitution. This being the case, what is to be 
done ? Why, then we say, icc cannot siccar to do these things. It is 
not particularly as Abolitionists, it is as lioncst men, as men of honor and 
as gentlemen, we say, we will not do these du'ly things ; and having de- 
termined not to do them, u-c cannot swear to do them, whether we intend 
to keep our oath or break our oath. That is the length and breadth of 
our doctrine. Is it not simple and plain ? It is clear as daylight. It is 
a simple case of common honesty, with our views. 

Of course, there are persons who believe that there is no Slavery in 
the Constitution, and that, under the Constitution, Slavery may be abol- 
ished by act of Congress. These persons may swear to support the 
Constitution, because they do not believe there is any Slavery there. I 
cannot agree in this opinion. If I could go as far as that, I think I might 
go one step further, and believe that there is no Slavery in the country. 
(Laughter.) 

Now, it seems to us that our position is perfectly plain ; that our prop- 
ositions follow each other as clearly as any two propositions can follow 
each other, in morals or in mathematics. Well, then, what do we pro- 
pose to do.? We do not believe that the American Anti-Slavery Society 
will ever embody a majority of the people of the United States ; but 
still, we do believe, that the truth which is going to issue forth from this 
Sociely will permeate and pervade the nation, and that the people 
will be brought up to that point, in which they will present to the slave- 
holders the alternative of Abolition or Disunion ; in which they will say 
to them, You shall have your choice. We will no longer be concerned 
in this dirty partnership. We will no longer assist you in keeping your 
slaves in chains. It is a work we despise. It dirties our fingers, it dir- 
ties our consciences, and we will have nothing further to do with it. If 
you choose to keep your slaves, well ; but go you your way, and we will 
go ours ; and we will be " enemies in war, in peace, friends." I be- 
lieve, and I presume the great mass of the people believe, — and cer- 
tainly, the slaveholders believe, — that as soon as that alternative is pre- 
sented to the slaveholders, Slavery will not exist for six months. How 
long would the Russian Emperor retain his power, if his army were to 
dissolve their union with him? And what are we but the army of the 
slaveholders? — their minute-men, ready at any time (having our guns 
and cartridge-boxes in our houses) to fight on the side of the oppressor, 
if some sable Washington should rise at the South, and unfurl the flag 
of insurrection ? I think, as soon as the slaveholders saw that the physi- 



48 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

cal support of the North would be removed, tliey would submit, because 
the hands of their slaves would then be at their throats, and the whole 
battle would be easy enough. 

You remember La Fontaine's fable of the lark, who, hearing the 
farmer tell his sons to call his neighbors to reap down his field of grain 
the next day, left her young in their nest, fearless of any danger ; but 
when she heard him say, that the next day he would reap the field him- 
self, hastened to convey her brood to a place of safety. Well, as soon 
as this field is white for the harvest, and as soon as the Northerners are 
ready to put in the sickle, you will see that the wliole brood of Slavery 
will be removed out of their and our way. The slaveholders, for their 
own safety, will remove this intestine enemy, whose knives are at their 
very throats. 

That is our simple method. We are now in precisely the stage which 
goes before Revolution. We are — to speak it reverently — the Anti- 
Slavery movement is the Baptist who goes before the Messiah of Eman- 
cipation. We are not " llim that is to come ;" but we are the " voice 
of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; " fill 
up the vallies and bring down the hills, and " make His paths straight." 
Sir, we are doing precisely what reformers in all ages have done, previ- 
ous to their reformation taking efTect. All reforms, all revolutions, — 
those which have ended in the bloodiest struggle, — have all begun in 
thought. The kingdom was originally within them. They all originated 
in the mind, in contemplation, in theory, before any agencies were 
put in motion to bring them at work; — the Christian religion, the 
Reformation of Luther, the Reformation of the Reformation by the 
Puritans, which filled the sails of the Mayflower, and which ended in 
the war of the Revolution, and thus created the French Revolution — 
from which, like the Dragon's teeth which Cadmus sowed, have sprung 
up the Revolutions of '48, and which, although they appear to have been 
buried again, are yet germinating, have not lost their vitality, and will 
yet burst forth, in a yet more terrible crop of revolutions, in a yet more 
fearful harvest of armed men, of bristling bayonets, and which will be 
sealed with a far more terrible signet of blood. 

Mr. President, that is the stage where we stand. We are creating 
that change in public sentiment which will ultimately come to its frui- 
tion in Revolution; for the Abolition of Slavery will be a Revolution. 
It will be an alteration of the fundamental institutions of the country. 
Whether it come in blood, or, as we hope, in quietness and peace, how- 
ever it comes, the fundamental institutions of the country will be as 
much changed, as if the House of Lords in Great Britain were to be 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 49 

abolished to-morrow. The governing power in the United States will be 
changed, and then the North can have its fair share of power. Then 
that arbitrary and tyrannical Aristocracy, which rests, not on honest acres, 
not on the possession of lands, but which rests on the ownership of human 
beings, which rests on the possession of human hearts, and souls, and 
brains, and muscles, will be abolished. We shall no longer be under 
the dominion of such a beggarly Aristocracy as that, whose very postage 
bills we have to pay, as well as to catch their slaves for them. For no 
slaveholding State pays its own postage bill, except the State of Louisi- 
ana, and that is paid by Northern merchants, who trade in New Orleans. 
Even the great Empire State of South Carolina, courageous and plucky, 
cannot foot her own postage account. I confess I have a liking for 
South Carolina; I like to see courage and pluck ; I like to see assurance 
and impudence, provided they are well carried out ; and when we see that 
little State, whose postage bills we pay to the amount of seventy thou- 
sand dollars annually, when we see her cowing the British lion, and 
making him put his nozzle down at her feet — I like the looks of that! 
And, while on this subject, I will venture a prophecy, that whenever 
Slavery is abolished. South Carolina will take the lead ; South Carolina 
will be the first State to abolish it. I leave that prophecy to be con- 
firmed hereafter. 

Well, to return. Whenever the time comes that Slavery shall be abol- 
ished, we shall be delivered from this Aristocracy of Legrees, which has 
no historical associations, like the English Aristocracy, which does not rest 
upon any recollections of former services, which has no claim on hered- 
itary gratitude, no ancestral record of great historical events and govern- 
mental changes ; whose armorial bearings are the scourge, the branding- 
iron, and the manacle ; whose peculiar privileges, whose hereditary 
rights are, the rights of plundering the poor and robbing the defence- 
less; — we shall be freed from such an odious, such a dastardly Aris- 
tocracy as that, and be able to have some voice in the appointment of 
rulers, in the arrangement of our public policy, in the making of laws, 
and begin to be respectable in our own eyes, and in the eyes of the 
world. 

I rose, sir, with no very definite plan in my mind as to what I was to 
say ; but I wished to make it plain what the object of the American 
Society was — that it was the universal recognition of the principle, that 
every man has a right to himself; and, secondly, the means by which 
we propose to attain that end, and that is, by the enlightenment of the 
public mind — by the changing of those opinions in the community on 
which Slavery now rests ; for Slavery, like any other evil institution, 



50 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

resis only on the opinions of the people. The Aristocracy of England, 
the Aristocracy of Russia, exist because the people are willing it should 
be so; because they know no better; because they prefer it. The 
moment they change their opinions, and determine the thing shall be 
changed, of course it will change. The Czardom of Russia, the Aris- 
tocracy of England, the Despotism of Napoleon, will vanish as speedily 
as the shadow when the substance is removed, as soon as the people are 
changed ; and this is the reason why all despotisms fear the growth of 
intelligence among the people, and attempt to shut out the light of truth 
from their minds. Here, we have not all these obstacles to contend 
with. We can scatter light among the people ; and this is what we are 
doing, and we have done a great work already in this respect. We have 
changed the opinion of the people mightily. We have created the Free 
Soil party. George Thompson said with truth, as well as wit, that " the 
Free Soiler who said he was under no obligations to Garrison, might 
as well say that he had no grandfather." (Laughter and cheers.) It 
was the change in the opinions of the people, through the agency of this 
Society, which went forth from the primitive Anti-Slavery men, which 
first of all made the Whig party that apparently partial Anti-Slavery 
party which it tried to appear to be at one time. It was that which cre- 
ated the Free Soil party. It is that which is permeating and pervading 
the public mind through the Free States, and which will ultimately be 
seen in political action in the two great parties, or in those parties into 
•which the present parties are to be divided afresh. 

This work will be accomplished ultimately by political action. But 
we do think our friends, the Free Soilers, put the cart before the horse. 
They are trying to use political action, before they have got the means 
of political action. We are endeavoring to put the horse before the 
cart. We are training the horse. We are getting the horse ready to 
draw the car of Emancipation up to the Capitol. It seems to me that 
this is common sense ; at least, it is all the sense we have. If others 
•can show us " a more excellent way," we are perfectly ready to accept 
it. I believe that we have no desire to be separated from the rest of 
mankind. The Garrison Abolitionists have no especial objection to 
holding office, and a great many of them would be glad to serve the 
State or the nation in that capacity, if they could do so honestly. A 
great many of them would not be unwilling to be President of the United 
States ; a great many of them would not be unwilling to be Senators in 
Congress, or to accept some of the lower offices which the States afford, 
if they could only take the oath. They would be very willing to exer- 
•cise the right of franchise, if they could only do it honestly ; but they 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 51 

must first of all be sure that they can do it honestly — without violating 
their sense of honor and duty. Whenever they can be convinced that 
they are in error, they are ready, and will be most happy, to enter into 
new relations. 

"We stand very much in the same position in which the Catholics in 
England stood, before the passage of the Emancipation Act. Why did 
not the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shaftesbury go into the House 
of Lords } Why did not O'Connell and Shiel go into the House of Com- 
mons .'' They had nothing to do but to acknowledge the supremacy of 
the King, and abjure that of the Pope. That was a very simple opera- 
tion, and they might have said that the Pope would give them a dispen- 
sation, and they might swear to recognise the supremacy of the Crown, 
without meaning to do so; — for that is one of the propositions which is 
sometimes made to us, th.at we may s„wear to support the Constitution, 
and yet not swear to do certain things which the Constitution imposes. 
Well, we do not believe in that way of construing the instrument. We 
think, when we swear to support it, we take the whole. Why could not 
those noblemen and gentlemen take their seats in the Houses of Parlia- 
ment .^ Simply because they could not tell a lie. Simply because they 
had rather forego the exercise of political power, than swear to do wliat 
they did not mean to do. The only difference between them and us is, 
that our position is a great deal stronger and more satisfactory, and can 
be much better defended. 

That is the position we occupy, sir ; that is why we have come here to- 
gether ; that is what we propose to do ; that is the way in which we pro- 
pose to do it ; and we hope that all will consider with themselves how these 
things be, and those who can come and join us, will they do so } If they 
cannot, let them help us in any way they can. We do not stand in the 
way of those who do not stand in our way. If there are any who think 
they have a better way, let them try it; we will bid them God-speed. 
But we cannot help telling them that we think that ours is the more 
excellent way, and comm.ending it to their consideration and adoption. 

Henry C. Wright said that if we were in the position of the slaves, or 
the free colored men in this country, who constitute a proscribed class, 
and who are stripped of all their rights, we should have no difficulty in 
settling the position of this national government before the world. He 
never yet heard of the man who constituted the government, or helped 
to constitute the government of any country, who was not always ready 
to suppose that his country was the best country in the world. He 
begged leave to say, that no man constituting a part of the government of 



52 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

a country, could be qualified to speak justly of the position of that country 
before the world, where there is a class oppressed. Let them put them- 
selves in the position of Robert Purvis, or poor Sims, in Boston ; let them 
ask that man, as he sat in the Boston court house, as he was dragged 
through the streets of the " cily of the Puritans," what he thought of 
the American government, in comparison with the governments of other 
countries ! If any man had gone to Sims, and said. The Bible and the 
Constitution sanction these things, what would he have said ? Were 
you, Mr. Chairman, (said iMr. Wright,) and your wife and children, on 
the auction-block, to be sold, and any man should come and say to you 
that that was right, that God had a right to make you a slave, and your 
wife a slave, and your children slaves, what would be the answer of your 
soul to such a proposition ? I know what it would be. You would 
instantly respond, that not even God himself had a right to make a 
slave. 

He (Mr. W.) wished to lay it down on the principle of right, and say 
that no being in the universe of God had a right to authorise one man to 
enslave another. Of course, he would say that the God of love had no 
desire to do such a thing ; but he would go further, and say, he had no 
right to do such a thing, because he was a God of law and justice ; and 
any man would say so, if he made the case his own. God had no right 
to lie ; he had no right to do injustice ; and he wished to lay this down 
as his way of meeting the popular argument, — which was not only the 
opinion of his friend Grew, but the opinion of the country, as a nation, 
the opinion of the Church of this country, and the opinion of Chris- 
tendom, en 7)iasse, — that God has a right to authorise man to enslave 
his brother. He denied the right, and on this denial he founded his 
vindication of the rights of Humanity. The common doctrine was, 
that all rights belong to God, and all duties belong to man. He main- 
tained that man had rights which no power could invade without injus- 
tice. They could stand on no other ground, in the prosecution of this 
holy enterprise, except that Slavery was a sin, under all conceivable 
circumstances. That had been their doctrine from the beginning. It 
was the doctrine embodied in the resolutions, and on this proposition, 
that Slavery is a sin, now and for ever, and that no power in the uni- 
verse has a right to authorise its existence for an instant, the Anti- 
Slavery movement must stand or fall. 

Mr. Garrison said — I wish to say a word respecting a remark made 
by my friend Mr. Barker, in regard to reformers allowing themselves 
to be alienated from each other, and, instead of working heart and hand 



I 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 53 

together, becoming Ishmaelitish in spirit towards each other. Undoubt- 
edly, all divisions in a movennent which is good, and just, and holy, are 
to be deplored : that is to say, it is for more desirable to see those who 
profess to love the movement, carrying out harmoniously and uncompro- 
misingly what they profess to believe, than to see them alienated one from 
another, on false issues, or on any ground whatsoever, as long as they 
profess to agree in principle, and in the object to be carried. Now, I 
do not think that, among those who are really baptized into any such 
movement, there can be any bitterness or strife. " All are not Israel, who 
are of Israel,^' in our day, any more than in the days of old. The great 
calamity, in every important reformatorj' movement, struggling for exist- 
ence and victory, is this, that some hastily espouse it, without countiog 
the cost, or foreseeing what is to follow. They are able to go a cer- 
tain distance, but no further. They are willing to make certain sacrifi- 
ces, but there they stop. They do not hold the movement itself to be 
paramount to all other considerations, and so are tempted, from time to 
time, to turn aside, and allow it to be endangered, or its claim suspended, 
for the attainment of some other object, or to gratify some other 
purpose. 

I do not expect, in the Anti-Slavery cause, that all will see eye to eye, 
with regard to every thing to be done, precisely at the same moment. 
It is impossible. One man sees the truth of a proposition intuitively, 
and only needs to have it stated, and his mind, with lightning rapidity, 
comprehends it in all its bearings, from beginning to end; and he wants 
neither argument nor illustration. Another may be just as honest and. 
true, as willing to make sacrifices, as desirous to know his dut)^ and as 
brave in the discharge of it; but he requires time to comprehend the 
same proposition, and arrives at his conclusions cautiously, slowly, and 
by a severe logical process. But, between these two, there need be no 
bitterness of spirit. In regard to position, one may be far in advance of 
the other ; but he who is foremost can afford to wait until the other 
comes up, and he who is behind can be equally tolerant in spirit, where 
the love of the right is the paramount feeling. 

Now, the American Anti-Slavery Society is not for promoting division, 
in an evil sense. How a Society more magnanimous, or more liberal 
towards all persons and parties injhe land, can possibly be organized, 1 
know not. When have we undertaken to exclude from our platform, 
any man who has desired to criticise our policy, or rebuke our conduct ? 
Never. But, in thus allowing every one to speak his own sentiments 
freely, do we not exhibit a good spirit towards all who may differ from 
us? How can we show a better? Moreover, in all our Anti-Slavery 



54 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

journals, we say to the slaveholder and to his Northern apologist, " Flere 
is room for you also; you shall be heard impartially and fully." Cer- 
tainly, this is not to be narrow, dogmatical, or egotistical. The true 
Abolitionist is willing to be criticised. His language is, " Search me 
and know me, and see if there be any pro-slavery in me, or in the 
position I occupy." 

So, on this occasion, all are invited to commune with us ; to feel that 
this is their meeting, as well as ours. No matter what their views may 
be, remembering the object that has brought us together, we solicit all to 
come in good faith, and endeavor to see what it is that upholds Slavery. 

For myself, I will not blame a man, because he cannot understand 
tjie Constitution as I do. I will not revile or contemn him, because he can- 
not agree with me as to his religious or political duty as a friend of the 
slave. He tells me that he believes he is in the right — very well. He 
tells me, if he could see as I do, he would come over to my side — very 
well. Now, there will be no alienation of spirit between us, if he is 
honest in his belief, and I am honest in mine. We can afford to difier, 
generously, magnanimously, lovingly. We shall ever be ready to com- 
mune together, to reexamine our positions, and to see whether we can 
get any nearer than we have yet been. 

This is the spirit of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 

I have no right to judge a man by my standard, if he rejects it ; but I 
may convict him of inconsistency or wrong-doing out of his own mouth. 
He tells me that no compromise ought to be made with Slaveiy. I ask 
him, " Do you believe the Constitution concedes to the slaveholders 
extraordinary political power, and grants them the right to pursue and 
recapture their fugitive slaves, when they make their escape to the 
North ? " " I believe it does," he replies. " Do you believe that the 
entire physical force of the nation is pledged to put down a slave insur- 
rection ? " "I do," he says. " How, then," I ask, "can you, as an 
Abolitionist, as a friend of the slave, as a man of principle, swear to 
uphold a Constitution, in which all these things are agreed to ? " I judge 
him by his own standard. Again, he tells me that he regards Slavery, 
in the language of John Wesley, as "the sum of all vilianies ; " and I 
find him in a Church which he acknowledges to be thoroughly pro- 
slavery. Have I not a right to measure him by his Anti-Slavery profes- 
sion ? Why, is not such a Church an Anti-Christian body } How, then, 
can he remain in it, either as a Christian or an Abolitionist ? He may 
tell me that he continues Isis membership, because he is anxious to re- 
form the Church ; that, by withdrawing from it, he will certainly lose his 
induence, and cut himself off from the opportunity to bring it to repent- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 55 

ance. But, if it be not a Cliristian Church, he has no business in it ; 
and by remaining in it, does he not virtually say, that though it is pro- 
slavery, it is still Christian ? And is not this to give the lie to his Anti- 
Slavery declarations, and also to cast a stain upon Christianity ? 

No, Mr. President, we run from nobody ; in an angry spirit, we sepa- 
rate from nobody. Our aim has been, from the beginning to the present 
time, not to alienate, but to win. This may seem paradoxical to some, 
who can talk of nothing but our harsh and denunciatoiy language. Now, 
we claim no exemption from the common infirmities of human nature. 
We acknowledge ourselves to be very fallible men and women ; that we 
may not have always been judicious in our language ; that we may have 
erred in many things. But, in such a conflict, with Edmund Burke we 
think that " something is to be pardoned to the spirit of Liberty." We 
only ask a fair margin for human frailties. But our desire has been to 
conciliate all, and not to alienate any man from the cause of the slave. 
We were few at the outset — how few ! We needed comfort, and aid, 
and cooperation. But we did not deem it Avise or safe to differ from the 
jihilosophy of those who had gone before us — the prophets, Christ, the 
apostles, and the martyrs. They spoke the truth of God, " whether 
men would hear or forbear ; " whether they would be conciliated or not ; 
whether it should prove " a savor of life unto life, or of death unto 
death." 

We only ask that men shall be satisfied with their own position, and 
show us, by the goodness of their spirit, that they sincerely believe them- 
selves to be in the right, and can therefore afford to be criticised. I 
trust the time is coming when there shall be no strife among the pro- 
fessed friends of this great enterprise. 

Joseph Barker said that he fully agreed with the preceding speaker 
in his remarks, in regard to the platform of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society ; and he agreed with him, also, in the sentiment that all true- 
hearted reformers were one, in spite of differences in minor matters ; and 
while they worked in their own way, and by the means wiiich seemed to 
them most efficient, they still labored for the same grand and noble 
object. 

In relation to the remarks of his friend Wright, which would imply 
that he underrated the disabilities under which the colored people of this 
country labored, Mr. Barker said that he believed he fully appreciated 
them, and that no man's sympathy for that oppressed class was stronger 
than his own. It was a shame and an infamy that his friend Robert 
Purvis was not allowed to send his children to the school which his 



56 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

taxes in part supported ; but he (Mr. B.) could not send a son of his to 
a respectable school in England, because the aristocratic influence was 
so powerful that no teacher dared admit the child of a man like himself, 
a Republican in politics, and a Liberal in religion, for fear of losing 
their favor. No insurance office would insure his property, until he had 
secured such a number of friends as to make it worth while for them to 
seek to gain friends by a show of liberality. He (Mr. B.) did not be- 
lieve that his most estimable and infinitely good-humored and philan- 
thropic friend, Edmund Quincy, — a right noble offshoot of a noble 
stock, — (loud cheers,) — he did not believe that his friend Quincy 
understood perfectly the nature and operation of the Aristocratic institu- 
tions of Great Britain and Ireland. He would tell him, he would tell 
every body, that there was more of selfishness, inhumanity and villany 
in the British Aristocracy, and a greater resemblance in their heart of 
hearts to the heart of the slaveholders, than any man, who had not lived 
under them, could understand. He himself had worked for four cents 
a day, and been cheated out of his wages at that, and no magistrate 
would have taken in hand his father's case, and obtained for him his 
rights. That was the condition of millions in Great Britain and Ireland, 
and it was but the natural effect of those laws which the Aristocracy 
had made. " The slaveholder," said Mr. Barker, " must always be 
the greatest of all criminals ; but there are some that are very much 
like him." 

Edbiund Quincy said he thought his friend could not suppose that he 
meant to say any thing in defence of the English Aristocracy. He 
merely wished to illustrate the difference of the basis on which the two 
Aristocracies rest ; and he thought there must be a wide difference be- 
tween the Aristocratical institutions of England and this country, since his 
friend, although he could not get his four cents a day, was yet able, by 
his energy and ability, to make an impression upon those Aristocratic 
institutions and effect great reforms ; and whenever the slave could do 
that, in the slave country, he would admit that the wickedness and in- 
famy of the Aristocracy of England approached to that of the Southern 
States. 

Mr. Barker — We will get rid of them bolh. 

Mr. Quincy — Amen. (Great applause.) 

After a few remarks by the President, the Convention adjourned to 
Sunday morning, at 10 o'clock. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 57 



SECOND DAY — Morning Session. 

At the appointed hour on Sunday morning, the President took the 
chair, and called the meeting to order, the spacious hall being filled by 
a very large audience, whose countenances and manner bore witness 
that they were drawn together by a deeper motive than curiosity — an 
eager and heartfelt desire to know all truth and all duty. The sunny 
brightness and freshness of the day seemed reflected on the faces of 
that great assembly of thoughtful men and women. 

Joseph A. Dugdale read several most appropriate passages of Scrip- 
ture. 

Letters from ]\Ir. G. W. Lewis, on behalf of his father, Samuel 
Lewis, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and from Rev. T. W. Higginson, of Wor- 
cester, Mass., were read, and it was voted to publish said letters with 
the proceedings. [See Appendix.] 

Miss Mary Cox, of Philadelphia, said she wished simply to state, 
that she had been deeply impressed, during the meeting, with the appli- 
cation of the language of Scripture, " Jerusalem shall be searched with 
lighted candles," to this country and time. The Church of the present 
day was the " Jerusalem," and the Abolitionists were the " lighted 
candles." She hoped that every one would be willing to receive 
reproof or instruction, and to hear the word of life. The Lord Al- 
mighty was not afar off nor asleep, but was still the unslumbering Shep- 
ard of Israel, " laying judgment to the line, and righteousness to the 
plummet," in our very midst. 

Edmund Quincy made a brief reply to the exceptions which had 
been taken by Joseph Barker to his previous remarks on the difference 
between the Aristocratic institutions of Great Britain and this country. 
He said he believed he did understand the character of the English 
Aristocracy. It was true, as his friend had said, that they did weigh 
heavily upon the hearts of the people, that they did throw infinite obsta- 
cles in the way of the elevation of the poor; but, while he admitted 
this resemblance between the two systems, he thought there was a very 
great difference in other respects. The very fact of his friend (Mr. 
Barker) being what he was at this time, was a proof of that difference. 
It was a proof that a man born among the lower class of the people in 
England, with all possible influences brought to bear against him to keep 
him down, could not be kept down, but that, in spite of those Aristo- 
cratic institutions, he could rise, and exert a great influence over the 
mass of the people ; and not only that, but actually be elected to a seat 



58 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

in the Parliament of the nation. Whenever a slave could rise, in the 
slavcholding country, and exert there the influence which Mr. Barker 
did in England, — whenever a black man, slave or not, in the South, 
could be elected to the Congress of the United States, — then the 
analogy between the two systems might be admitted. 

Then, again, bad as the institutions of Great Britain were, there was 
nothing in them to prevent the laboring man from rising to the highest 
place ; in fact, many persons had thus risen to power, as was well 
known. There were no obstacles in the way of the acquisition of 
knowledge. Men were not sent to prison there, or beaten, or lynched, 
for teaching poor Englishmen or Irishmen to read and write. They 
might learn to read, they might go where they pleased to church, they 
might send their children to school, if they could obtain the means. 
Then, the lower classes had the right of flight ; there was no Fugitive 
Slave Law to stop them. They could not be pursued, even to the Brit- 
ish possessions. They had a right to go to Australia, or New Zealand, 
or Canada, or any where else, at their pleasure. In all these respects, 
he apprehended there was a great difference between the condition of 
the laborins people of Great Britain, and that of the slaves of the 
United States. 

What he (Mr. Quincy) wished liis friend Barker and the audience 
particularly to consider and remember was the infinite difference between 
Slavery and Tyranny ; that, bad as Tyranny is, it is as the light of 
noon to the darkness of midnight, compared with Slavery. (Applause.) 
He wished his friend to look at the matter from this point of view, be- 
cause, whenever the Abolitionists portrayed the condition of the slave, 
and protested against the wickedness of the master, the tyranny of the 
English Aristocracy was thrown in their teeth. They were told that 
the English operative and the Irish peasant were just as badly off' as the 
American slave, and that the owners of the English mills and the land- 
lords were just as bad as the slaveholders. But, admitting that the 
physical condition of these classes was as bad, or even worse, than that 
of the slaves, there was this difference — that the slaves were kept so by 
the laws of the country in which they lived. Its ignorance, tyranny 
and oppression were organized into law, so that it was morally, intellec- 
tually and physically impossible for the slave to rise, in the slave coun- 
try, above the place in which he was born. 

Mr. Quincy said, in conclusion, that there was nothing under the cope 
of heaven to compare with American Slavery ; not even Russian serf- 
dom, for the serf was chained to the soil, and could not be "sold South," j 
and the power of the Emperor was extended for the defence and pro- ' 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKV SOCIETY. 59 

tection of the serf; while in lliis country, the influence of the Govern- 
ment was all on the side of the master, instead of the slave. He be- 
lieved that there was nothing in Europe or in Asia to compare, in black- 
ness and infamy, with the relation of the slaveholder to his slaves in 
this country ;jind he hoped, therefore, that no Abolitionist would even 
appear to play into the hands of the enemies of the slave, by not recog- 
nising this distinction, in the most marked manner, whenever he spoke 
on the subject. 

At this point, AVendell Phillips, of Boston, entered the hall, which 
fact the President (Mr. Garrison) announced, remarking that " his ap- 
pearance was as cheering as the unveiled face of the sun after a long 
storm." (Loud applause.) 

Joseph Barker said that he perfectly agreed with Mr. Quincy, that 
Slavery is the losvest condition of Humanity, and that slaveholding is 
the greatest crime in the catalogue of sins ; but what he had contended 
for was this, that in substance and in tendency the two systems were one, 
and that their effects were much more alike, than one who had not felt 
the weight of the Eui'opean system would be disposed to believe ; and 
that, indeed, under certain circumstances, the effect of the Aristocratic 
system in Great Britain and Ireland was more deplorable, in some re- 
spects, than the effect of the slaveholding system in this country. In 
illustration of this position, Mr. Barker cited the starvation which had 
been produced, not only in Ireland, but also in England, to a fearful ex- 
tent, by the efforts of the landlords to maintain a monopoly of the grain 
market, and thus secure a higher price for their lands from the tenant 
farmers. By this system, within two years, the population of Ireland 
had been reduced, through absolute starvation, one and a half to two 
millions. In no case had the slaveholding system produced such a 
deplorable and frightful result. 

He (Mr. B.) acknowledged the force of Mr. Quincy's remark, that 
the people of Great Britain could run away, that they were at liberty, if 
they chose, to leave that country, and come to this. It was also true, 
that there was no law expressly passed to prevent the people from learn- 
ing to read; but, by a tax of eight cents on every newspaper, so that 
one could not be bought for less than thirteen or fifteen cents, by levying 
a tax of thirty-six cents on every advertisement, though it were but a 
line, and by a burdensome tax on paper, the number of books and news- 
papers was kept down, and the ability to obtain them limited to the 
higher and middle classes of the people. Let his audience imagine 



(5Q TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

books kept at a hi-h price, the people prevented from having more than 
one half the needful amount of employment, and then obliged to pay 
two thirds of all tlieir earnings in taxes, (the Aristocracy did not pay one 
fiftieth part of their income in taxes,) and they would have as cunningly 
a devised scheme as the world had ever beheld, for extracting the very 
last drop of life-blood and energy from the working classes, and leaving j 
them as low, as abject, as poor, as hopeless, as they could well be. 

It was true, Mr. Barker said, that the people had the right to run 
away ; but, in many cases, they had not the requisite means to avail 
themselves of this mode of escape from the tyranny that oppressed them. 
There were millions in Great Britain and Ireland, at this time, who could 
not run away; and many of them waited until their friends in this coun- 
try sent them the means to pay their passage here. Millions were sent 
over from the United States to Great Britain every year for this purpose. 
He was aware, as Mr. Quincy had said, that the conduct of the Irish and 
English Aristocracy is sometimes thrown in the way of the Abolitionist, 
as an objection to the Anti-Slavery movement ; and when he presented 
his views on this subject, he knew what abuse might be made of them by 
pro-slavery parties in this country. He knew it was possible that some 
pro-slavery man might, by mistake, say to him, — "That's right. Bar- 
ker! You do right to denounce the Aristocracy across the ocean." It 
was possible that such a man might do this once — not twice! (Laugh- 
ter and cheers.) But, on the other hand, if they refused to allow 
that the English and Irish Aristocracy are the company of unbearable 
creatures they really are — how did that operate on the Irish emigrants.? 
They would say — " If these men don't know any more about Slavery 
than they know about England and Ireland, we shan't believe them 
•when they tell us of the condition of the slaves. We have suffered 
from the Aristocracy and land monopolists in England ; we know how 
they operate ; we know it is not possible for the slaves physically to be 
in a worse condition than the laws of the Aristocracy and land monopo- 
lists of Great Britain and Ireland have brought upon the laboring popu- 
lation of those countries ; and if they will not concede the truth when 
speaking on this subject, we are not prepared to acknowledge what they 
have to say on the question of Slavery." 

Mr. Barker concluded — My own impression is, that the course I have 
taken in venturing to express my feelings and judgment on this subject, 
will do far more good, by its influence upon English emigrants, than it 
could possibly do harm by appearing, for a time, to strengthen a certain J 
objection employed by slaveholders and their sycophantic adherents. 
(Applause.) But, whatever be the effect of this course of procedure, for 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 61 

a time, one thing is certain, I can only vindicate liberal principles in my 
own way, and use such illustrations as my reading and experience sup- 
ply ; and I will trust the effect of a free, honest, benevolent utterance of 
my own thoughts, and my own feelings, further than I can see. And 
when we do utter our feelings and sympathies, and convictions of truth, 
iind our wishes for improvement, and when we do contribute our labors 
for the good of mankind, I am thoroughly persuaded, as I am that I 
exist, that the effect must be good, though some individuals may seek to 
make a bad use of it. However, we are all agreed, that while we live 
in America, it is with American institutions and American abuses that 
we have especially to deal. Our work is to create and extend the senti- 
ment in favor of impartial Freedom, and against that most accursed of 
all institutions, American Slavery. I say, here we are agreed, and here 
we speak our minds, and contribute our efforts to this one great object, — 
to wipe away the stain from the American character, to abolish that 
institution which rests like an incubus upon American enterprise and 
improvement ; and, surely, we can bear to hold differences of opinion in 
minor matters, so long as we are perfectly agreed in hating American 
Slavery, in opposition to the American slaveholder, and in our efforts to 
elevate every human being to a position of equality of rights and a fair 
chance of doing well for himself, both in body and soul, in his own per- 
son and in his posterity, through the length and breadth of this great 
country, and through the countless ages which are to witness its growing 
destiny. (Loud cheers.) 

Charles C. Burleigh, of PJainfield, Conn., then took tlie platform, 
and addressed the audience as follows : — 



SPEECH OF CHARLES C. BURLEIGH. 

Mr. President : 

I do not intend to go into any extended reply to the remarks of the 
preceding speaker. Indeed, it was not in my mind to allude at all to the 
subject on which he spoke. Still, before entering upon what I intended 
to be my discourse of this morning, I wish to glance briefly at some of 
the points which have been made. 

I heartily agree with the sentiment which our friend has uttered here, 
that the faithful utterance of the truth — the faitliful, honest, effective 
utterance of that which commends itself to our minds as truth — may 
be trusted further than we can see. That is the sentiment which 
has animated the Anti-Slavery enterprise from the beginning. We 



QO TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

have been met witli talk about expediency; with objections to our 
severity and harshness; with objections to tlie dangerous character 
of the remedy we propose for Slavery, and a thousand objections 
based on this principle of expediency; and our answer to them all has 
been, whether we can show or not that the course we adopt is expedient, 
we know it is right, and therefore we can trust it. If we have once • 
made up our minds that a course is demanded by principle, by a regard 
for truth and justice, no matter what its effect may seem to be to- 
day or to-morrow, on you or on your neighbor, it is certain that it will 
have the right effect at last. 

But, as to the particular case before us, it seems to me that those who 
assert that the victims of the selfishness of the British Aristocracy are 
in as degraded and depressed a condition as the victims of American 
Slavery, or who think that we are in any danger of judging too lightly 
of the character of the British Aristocracy, ought to make a very differ- 
ent inference from that which would rank us as allies and friends of any 
form of oppression in the world. I should reason after a different fash- 
ion, if I thought that Abolitionists underrated the oppressiveness of the 
British Aristocracy. I should say. Well, if the American slaveholders, 
whom I do not know, are as much w'orse than your representation of 
them, as the Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland, whom I do know, 
are worse than your representation of the/n, then I do not wonder at the 
earnestness of your opposition to them. I do not believe that we ever 
lose ground at all by seeming to be tender and lenient towards those 
whose positions we do not thoroughly comprehend. When our judg- 
ment stops a little short of the severity of absolute truth, I think it can 
be no worse, at least, than if by chance we should go a little beyond, or 
come right up to the utmost point of just severity, in any case where 
there is danger of being misled by ignorance. 

In the comparison which has been instituted between the American 
and British systems of despotism, I think that one circumstance has been 
lost sight of, or not presented with sufficient distinctness. We have 
been told of the starvation \vhich the people of Great Britain and Ireland 
have suffered, in consequence of the oppressive policy of the British 
government ; we have also been informed of the hindrances which are 
interposed in the way of the intellectual culture of the British peasantry, 
through the taxation which is laid on the production and circulation of 
books and newspapers. All perfectly true, and all well put, as I think, 
in the argument which would go to the abolition of the Corn Laws, and 
the breaking down of this system which keeps back the intellectual 
advancement of the people ; but not exactly well put, it seems to me, in 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 63 

the argument which is to bring us to a correct appreciation of the com- 
parative merits or demerits of the two systems of British Aristocracy 
and American Slavery. Now, when the American slaveholder says to 
his slave, " You are my property ; you must work for whatever I choose 
to give you, and all the product of your toil must go into my pocket," 
he has the unmistakable object in view of converting his brother man 
into a mere instrument for the promotion of his own interest. It seems 
to me that we cannot quite so certainly say this as to the British systems 
of policy ; for there are those, and not a few, in this country, as well as 
in that, who believe that such systems are the very best means for pro- 
moting the welfare of the whole nation. We, too, have a tariff policy ; 
and if we do not forbid the importation of grain, it is because we have 
no occasion for it. But we do forbid the importation of certain articles 
of manufactured goods; and we have men among «s, — and able men, 
and men who love Liberty, and men who love the masses of the peo- 
ple, — who say that it is better for our country that we should keep up 
this protective policy, and that we shall thereby really enlarge the prices 
of labor, and multiply the comforts of the poor. Well, we may differ as 
to whether this is a wise policy or not, yet it does seem to me that the 
selfishness of the one course is far more clearly manifest than that of the 
other. So, as to the ta.\ on books : it is for the purpose of making rev- 
enue ; and to carry out the system consistently with that object, the British 
government, to say the least, should not discourage education among the 
poorer classes, because, to diffuse the light of knowledge is to multiply 
the number of readers, and thereby the number of purchasers of books 
and papers, and thereby the number of payers of this tax. So, through 
the whole of these points of comparison, it seems to me this difference 
runs : the one governmental policy may be presumed to be intended to 
operate for the good of all classes, while the other is directly designed 
for the promotion of the interests of one class, through the sacrifice of 
the rights of the other. But I pass from this question. 

However we may differ as to the actual and relative positions of these 
parties, we are agreed in one point, that the principle of the American 
slave system is an embodiment of the most purely selfish principle that 
was ever embodied in human laws and human institutions ; that it is the 
most detestable system of villany that ever yet emerged from the bot- 
tomless pit of perdition, lo find a dwelling-place on God's green earth. 
(Loud cheers.) And as to the administrators of this system, whatever 
they may be at the beginning, they must naturally and necessarily tend 
to become like the system which they administer. We have often been 
told of the benevolence of slaveholders, of the kind treatment of slaves. 



g4 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

and we do not dispute the facts, because we are told that the lucky acci- 
dent of a benevolent and beneficent despot among the despotisms of the 
old world sometimes occurs ; but, whatever number of such accidents 
may happen, the necessary tendency of upholding and administering 
a system purely and utterly selfish in its character, must be to make 
those who uphold and administer it selfish also. 

It is just here that we assail the American slave system. We say, 
that in its intrinsic character, it is a sin, and therefore always wrong ; 
and not merely wrong, but the very superlative degree of wrong ; the 
very condensed and concentrated essence of all iniquity. We fully 
endorse the declaration of John Wesley, that Slavery is the " sum of all 
villanies." We maintain that Slavery embodies all actual, all possible, 
all conceivable, all imaginable villany, in the single principle which is 
its essence and life, — the principle of the absolute property of man in 
man, — the principle that one man is the mere tool, the mere appendage 
of another, the instrument to be used for the promotion of that other's 
interest; and, therefore, we maintain that to talk of the abuses of such a 
system, of the perversion of the power of the master to the production 
of results not naturally belonging to the system, is folly. Pray, how can 
there be any abuse of that which is itself the sum of all abuses.? If 
you are to be held, as the Supreme Court of North Carolina has decided 
the slave is to be held, without any regard to your good, but solely to 
promote my comfort and security, pray, how can you imagine the exist- 
ence of any abuse of the power thus conferred, of the relation thus 
defined ? Every thing which I believe to be necessary to the attain- 
ment of the object, I may do; and the fact of its necessity to that end, 
justifies the doing of it. In this principle, we find the broad and firm 
basis for that doctrine of the slave law, which the Supreme Court of 
North Carolina set forth in the decision that the slave has no redress 
from any injury inflicted by his master; that he can have no appeal 
from the master's decision, and consequent action, to the tribunals of the 
country. All wrongs, therefore, are included in this one wrong, and we 
cannot, for this reason, be too severe in our denunciation of Slavery. 
We cannot imagine any thing as more oppressive than the combination 
of all oppressions. What right can ever be invaded in the person of the 
slave, from whom all rights are rent away > If no wrong can be per- 
petrated on the subject of the system, then there can be no abuse of the 
system. 

Now, we have come together, and have called our fellow-citizens 
from all parts of the country together with us, to combine our energies 
for the overthrow of this institution — for the abolition of the system 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 65 

which declares one man to be the absolute property of another, and 
which, in thus setting up the principle of the absolute power of one 
man over another, has committed, at one blow, the sum of all wrongs 
and of all outrages. 

Here we are 'met by a great many objections, foremost of which, 
at the present day, is, that we are enemies to all good, in every 
form, now existing in the world. Men say to us, your cause may 
or may not be good, but we cannot cooperate with you, because 
you are enemies of the Sabbath, enemies of the Bible, enemies of 
Christianity, enemies of the Church and the Christian ministry ; and 
if we should cooperate with you, in endeavoring to overthrow Slavery, 
we should thereby be giving countenance to an enmity to all the good 
you stand arrayed against. Our enemies would turn away the gaze of 
the people from that institution which we are summoning them to 
assail, by exciting their theological prejudices against us, hoping thereby 
to weaken the hands of the friends of Freedom, and prop and strengthen 
those of the champions of Slavery. We are obliged to meet this objec- 
tion. We are obliged to show that our enterprise has no controversy 
with any thing but Slavery, and that which is arrayed for the defence 
of Slavery. We are not the enemies of the Bible, or the Constitution, 
the Church, or the clergy, or the popular religion, unless these are 
arrayed in defence of the slave system. 

Now, we may not always stop to inquire whether the system of chat- 
tel Slavery is in harmony with the spirit of the Bible, the Church, the 
clergy, and religion, or not ; we have only to say, if the Bible and the' 
Church, if the clergy and their religion, do sanction such a system, 
then that sanction, instead of justifying Slavery, condemns them; and 
we throw the burden of proof upon our opponents. We ask them to 
prove that Slavery is right, not that something else, which, after all, 
may be wrong, declares it to be right ; and if they wish to defend their 
Bible and religion, we ask them to prove that these, while they sanction 
Slavery, are or can be right. On the other hand, we deny that there 
is any necessary controversy between the Anti-Slavery cause and the 
religion of Jesus Christ, and the Church and clergy whose business it is 
to set forth and embody that religion. We maintain, that if Christianity 
is to be judged in the light of its great principles, in the light of its 
central and all-pervading truths, then Christianity is an Anti-Slavery 
religion ; and that it is not only our right to prosecute this Anti-Slavery 
enterprise in the midst of a Christian community, and to summon that 
community to cooperate in the prosecution of it, but that it is the duty 



66 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

of every man, calling himself by the name of Jesus Christ, to enrol 
himself in the ranks of the Anti-Slavery host. 

This is our answer to those who charge us with being the enemies 
of the religion of Jesus, or any of its institutions. Admitting that the 
common faith in regard to the sacredness of the first day of the week is 
the true faith, still we say, that the work in which we are engaged is 
eminently appropriate to this day of the week. Even though you hold 
as strictly to its sanctity as the children of Abraham did to that of the 
seventh day, still, we maintain that the day is no holier than the work. 
You say that this day ought to be devoted to the promotion of the cause 
of Christ in the world, to the dissemination of religious truth and the 
use of the means of spiritual welfare. Very good, we say; appropriate 
it, then, to religious worship ; appropriate it, then, to the advancement 
of the cause of Christ; and, among the means of advancing the Chris- 
tian cause, uphold our enterprise, which, in the principles it embodies, 
in the results at which it aims, is an eminently Christian enterprise. 
Ours is a holy enterprise, then ; ours is an enterprise holy enough for 
the holiest of days and the holiest of places. 

You would devote this day to worship. Pray, what do you mean by 
worship? You mean by it, the e.xpression of your reverence for God, 
whom you deem worthy of the highest veneration. Then you mean, 
the e.xpression of veneration, not merely for some abstract idea, but you 
mean reverence for the attributes and character of your God — rever- 
ence for that which constitutes him worthy of veneration. The God 
• you worship, you will not admit as the mere creatioa of your fancy, — 
a sort of floating vapor, away somewhere in the infinite regions of space, 
with no qualities, no attributes, on which the human heart can fasten 
with a strong and sure grasp. You cannot venerate such an airy ab- 
straction. Try, and you will find it utterly impossible. But you mean 
that you venerate the justice, the love, the truth, the purity ,^the holiness, 
the goodness of God ; to sum it all up in one word, and that word the 
very one which your Anglo-Saxon fathers by familiar speech have 
shortened into the common term by which you signify the object of your 
religious worship, God — Good ; the pure and absolute Good is what 
you profess to venerate ; Good impersonate, endowed with all the qual- 
ities and attributes of personality — it is that which you tell me that 
you bow before in your temples of religious adoration. 

Now, let us examine the bearings of this admission on the question 
here before us. If you worship God on account of his justice, his love, 
his truth, then it is these that are the real objects of your veneration, 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 67 

and He is to you but the impersonate essence of these. Wherever these 
call for any expression of your reverence, there you instinctively bestow 
it. Supposing you to be filled with the spirit of reverence for God, no 
element of selfishness mingles with it. You love justice for its own 
sake, and not for any advantages which may accrue to yourself; you 
love truth for its own sake, and not for the sake of any possible benefit 
to yourself from the prevalence of truth ; and so through all the divine 
characteristics. Any cause, then, which embodies any portion of this 
principle of justice, demands, in the same proportion in which it does 
embody it, your reverence ; and as worship is the expression of rever- 
ence, every act which you do to give expression to your reverence for 
right, wheresoever it is embodied, is an act of worship ; and so, through 
all the other attributes of the divine character. 

Now, here is the American slave system — a system of incarnate ini- 
quity and injustice, and the most cruel form in which injustice can be 
embodied. What, then, is the feeling which naturally arises in your 
hearts and minds on the contemplation of that injustice ? Love to truth 
and justice necessarily implies hatred to falsehood and injustice; there 
is no neutral, there is no middle ground. " If a man say, I love God, 
and hate his brother, he is a liar." In the very change of his term from 
love, in the first clause, to love not in the other, the Apostle implies to 
" love not " is to " hate " ; that, in other words, there is no middle 
ground between love and hatred ; and that is the implication which con- 
veys the true philosophy. If we love the one of two opposites, we 
must hate the other. If I love justice, I must hate wrong ; I cannot be 
neutral. " When judgment is turned away backward, and justice stand- 
eth afar off, and truth is fallen in the street," I must feel deeply in pro- 
portion to the depth and strength of my reverence for God, which is rev- 
erence for justice, for love, and for truth. I must, then, if I feel deeply, 
act according to my feeling. " Out of the abundance of the heart" not 
only " the mouth speaketh," but the whole man acteth. 

Well, then, here is a system of embodied injustice, standing in full 
vievv of us who profess to love God. What is the natural expression for 
us of that feeling of reverence for right.'' I may say that 1 love right 
better than wrong; I may say that I have a great regard for justice, and 
that I venerate the God of justice, because he is a just God ; but is this 
the most natural and emphatic expression of reverence for justice and 
truth.? When the feeling is strong, when the sentiment is deep and all- 
pervading in the soul, does it not demand something more impressive 
than mere words ? does it not rush forth into action ? Most assuredly. 
It is earnest, it is eager to embody itself in something more than mere 



gg TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

speech, and deed becomes worship. The expression of our reverence 
for God, in this view of the subject, is the expression of our hatred of 
wronf^, and our desire to remove wrong from the face of that earth 
which it curses. I am not saying that there may not be hypocritical 
worship of ll)is kind, as well as of any other; but this does not of itself 
disprove the existence of heart worship. That men profess to be Anti- 
Slavery men, when really there is no heart at bottom but the heart of 
selfishness, by no means disproves the proposition that true veneration 
for God assumes this expression of itself — the worship of God in doing 
good to our wronged and oppressed brother, in laboring for the overthrow 
of every system of injustice which is oppressing and degrading him. 

I demand for our Anti-Slavery enterprise the character of a religious 
enterprise. I demand for our Anti-Slavery action the character of reli- 
gious worship ; and I afilrm that every man who engages in this cause, 
animated by the spirit which is congenial to the cause, which is the vital 
spirit of the cause, is worshipping God in every act which he does to 
promote this cause. He is giving expression to his love for justice, when 
he makes war against the iniquity of the Slave Power. He is giving 
expression to his reverence for that God who is justice itself impersonate, 
when he is giving his aid to the cause which seeks to make justice tri- 
umphant over wrong. 

If I had spoken of Slavery as an embodied lie in the presence of this 
nation, 1 might draw the same conclusion from that aspect of the case. 
Slavery practically denies the great truth which, as men, we believe we 
know to be the truth. It practically denies the truth which Jesus Christ 
revealed in the whole tenor of his preachings, and still more impressive- 
ly in the whole tenor of his life. You call yourselves followers of Christ. 
You say you believe in the divine character of Jesus Christ, in the divin- 
ity of the words he spoke. Then I ask you to unite with us in endeav- 
oring to imitate Him who " came to bring deliverance to the captive, 
and to open the prison doors to them that are bound." He has taught, 
ns j)lainly as words, as plainly as a life bright with beneficent deeds can 
teach it, that all men are brothers, that we are all children of one family; 
that we have all the same nature, and, by necessary consequence, the 
same rights. If He has said to us, " All things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do unto ^pu, do ye even so unto them, for this is the law 
and the prophets," — this is the very essence, the sum of all which the 
prophets reveal, which the law enjoins, — then he has, in saying this, 
said that our neighbor is as ourselves. To command us to love our 
neighbor as ourselves, and to command this as the very essence of our 
duty, is to tell us that we are all equals in nature and rights, that we are 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 69 

all members of one common fomily ; is to give us the law which natu- 
rally, which necessarily grows out of the doctrine of the Brotherhood of 
Man. 

A great outcry was made all over the country, a year or (wo ago, 
about Parker Pillsbtjry, who, it was said, went through a certain form 
used by the religious organizations of the country, with the supposition, 
or the imagination, that the subject of the rite was only a dog. The 
religious newspapers uttered exclamations of holy horror ; the pulpits 
poured out their solemn anathemas upon the man who dared to be guilty 
of so blasphemous an atrocity as the baptizing of dogs. And yet, Par- 
ker PiLLSBURY did nothing more, even in imagination, in that case, than 
what every clergyman of the South. does, in principle, when he admits a 
slave to his church ; nothing more than what every slaveholding church 
does, when it admits a slave to its communion. It would be just as 
proper (assuming as true the central principle of the American slave 
code, that the slave is a mere, chattel 2^<^''^onaI) to take the bread of the 
communion and feed the dogs of the kennel with it, as it would be to 
take it and give it to the chattels that toil in our fields. If the slave is a 
chattel, if he has not the same human nature that we have, if he has not 
the same human rights as we, then he belongs to that inferior grade of 
beings to whom it would be blasphemy to administer the sacraments of 
the religion of Jesus. I repeat, those who treat the slave as an inferior 
being, and at the same time talk about sending him the gospel, talk 
about giving him the privileges of the church, talk about baptizing him 
and admitting him to the communion table, have no right to find fault 
with any body for administering the ordinance of baptism to dogs. They 
have no right to find fault, I say, if this be actually done ; but every 
body knows, who knows the facts in the case, that Parker Pillsbury, 
as an illustration of his argument, merely imagined the case of a minis- 
ter attempting to go through this ceremony with dogs instead of slaves. 
You cannot but see how perfectly conclusive is the logic ; and the only 
fault — if fault there were — in the case was, that Parker Pillsbury 
chose to embody that logic in a dramatic form, which appealed to the 
senses, so that it would make its impression upon the heart, instead of 
presenting it in the form of dry argument, a mere appeal to the cold 
intellect. 

. Jesus, then, by the very commandment to treat our fellow-man as an 
equal, has taught the doctrine of Human Brotherhood. It is the very 
vital principle of the religion of Jesus Christ. If the words and life of 
Jesus mean any thing, reveal any thing, press any thing with peculiar 
force upon the understanding and the heart, it is just this truth, that we 



70 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

arc the equal children of one infinitely loving Father; that we are all of 
tlie same nature, and necessarily have the same rights, since rights are 
as the nature of the being possessing them. Now, Slavery denies this. 
Slavery, therefore, is a lie against our humanity, a lie against the reli- 
gion of Jesus Christ, or God himself is false. We are obliged to accept 
one of the two alternatives— either God has written a lie upon the very 
constitution of our being, either Christ has taught falsely, or Slavery is 
itself the greatest lie that ever passed from the false heart of man mto 
the Ailsc institutions which he has set up. We revere truth ; we desire 
to worship God, the God of infinite truth, — that is, to give expression to 
our reverence for truth, our reverence for him who is the infinite imper- 
sonation of truth to our understandings and our hearts. Now, what is 
the most emphatic expression of this reverence ? Is it to go about the 
country saying, " We like truth " ? Or is it not, rather, by embodying 
the truth in our lives, and showing our veneration for truth by our abhor- 
rence of every deviation from it ? It is not by professing a hatred of 
wronfT, but by endeavoring to put an end to it wheresover we discover it, 
that we display our veneration for right and justice. Make war upon 
Slavery, make war upon that institution which is itself the incarnation of 
all outrages and all ills in the universe of God, which is the purest 
embodiment of the satanic clement in this universe — make war upon 
that, earnestly, pcrsevcringly, impelled by a spirit in full harmony with 
the purpose that calls you to action, and you are worshipping God, — 
because you are expressing your reverence for truth in your hatred to 
falsehood, and the expression of reverence is worship. 

I might go on, and show that just the opposite, not only of truth and 
justice, but of whatever else commends itself to you as good, as an attri- 
bute of the character of God, is embodied in American Slavery ; but 
time will not permit. Every man who truly venerates these divine attri- 
butes is thereby impelled, by a law of resistless moral necessity, to array 
himself against Slavery. He only needs to know what Slavery is, he 
only needs to know of the existence of such an institution as is defined 
in the American Slave Code, he only needs the simple knowledge of the 
fact, to make him a decided, earnest Anti-Slavery man. If, indeed, the 
spirit of the religion of Jesus Christ is in him ; if, indeed, the spirit of 
reverence for the God of infinite justice, goodness, benevolence and 
truth is in him, you might as well suppose that you can prevent water 
from gushing out from the living fountain, to flow 

" Through matted grass, that, with a livelier green. 
Betrays the secret of its silent course," 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 71 

as prevent the flowing out of this indwelling reverence for right, for 
truth, for benevolence, in the form of deeds that shall bless mankind. 
When Jesus said that the decision pronounced upon them that should be 
gathered before the Judge, and divided from each other as sheep are 
divided from the goats, should be based on this principle — Inasmuch 
as ye did or did not the offices of kindness and brotherly affection to one 
of the least of these, my brethren, ye did them or did them not to me, — 
when He represented this as the very highest test of human character, 
He taught no other than the plainest philosophy of morals, as any man 
may discover it, who will examine himself, or who will carefully observe 
life round about him ; for if we have that spirit within us which prompts 
us to do the deed of kindness and mercy to those who are in circum- 
stances which render it impossible they should ever be able to requite 
that deed, if we spontaneously bestow our good offices, without hope of 
reward, then the presumption manifestly is, that it is the impulse of love 
for goodness in itself, within us, which has prompted the deed ; while, 
on the other hand, if we refuse to do that deed under such circum- 
stances, if we wait until we can do it to those who, in some way, will 
he able to repay us in kind, the inference is fair that we have not the 
spirit within us which prompts to deeds of goodness, but that we are 
prompted to action only by the selfishness of our own hearts. 

I maintain, then, upon these grounds, that the Anti-Slavery enterprise 
is truly a religious enterprise, is truly a Christian enterprise, in the best 
and highest sense of the term ; and that when we are acting in accord- 
ance with its spirit, and endeavoring to promote this enterprise, earnestly 
and persistently, we are worshipping God ; that we are worshipping Him 
in an acceptable manner ; that we are worshipping Him not only as truly 
as those who bow the knee in prayer, but more impressively than they. 
If, in order to escape from this conclusion, the attempt should be made 
to prove that Christianity does not teach the doctrines I have ascribed to 
h, all I have to say is. You who teach that, must settle your controversy 
with Infidels and Atheists as you can ; I have nothing to say, on this 
Anti-Slavery platform, as to whether Christianity is divine or not. True, 
I believe it to be divine ; I cling to it as the very embodiment of the vital 
principle of love ; but if others choose to understand it differently, and 
to maintain that it is a religion which is unjust, which is tyrannous, or 
which countenances wrong of any kind, I have no time to spend, upon 
this Anti-Slavery platform, in a contest on the divinity or diabolism of a 
religion of that character. Nay, I do not know that it is necessary to 
debate the question elsewhere ; for before an audience which could not, 
by instinct, perceive whether such a religion is divine or diabolical, it 



72 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

in:"lit perhaps be throwing away argument to endeavor to convince 
them of such a proposition. You might as well light a lamp at cloudless 
nuonday, to show tliat the sun is shining. The Christianity which I 
believe in is the Christianity of Human Brotherhood ; the God whom I 
reverence is the universal Father of all the family of man ; but if any 
others worship a different God, and believe in a different Christianity, 
then the argument that I have been presenting here does not touch their 
case; and, therefore, their arguments in support of the deductions which 
they would draw from such a Christianity do not affect the Anti-Slavery 
question, or the conclusion to which we arrive in the settlement of that 
question. AVe say to Rev. Theodore Clapp, of New Orleans, who says, 
in reference to a certain passage in Scripture, " Here you see God traf- 
ficking in slaves," — the only difference between you and us is, that we 
are Abolitionists, and therefore do not worship an Almighty slaveholder. 
"We do not worship Belial, or Moloch, or Mammon, even ; but if you 
choose to incorporate the avarice of Mammon, and the lust of Belial, 
and the blood-thirstiness of Moloch, all into one monster, and call that 
monster " God," why, instead of stopping to debate with you whether 
the Anti-Slavery cause is in accordance with the will of your God or 
not, we shall earnestly inquire if it be not our duty immediately to 
organize a Missionary Society, to preach the Gospel among the heathen 
in New Orleans. (Loud applause.) It is not at all a question concern- 
ing tlie right or wrong of the Anti-Slavery cause, which is raised by 
these theological objections to it. It is the question whether the cause 
in which we are engaged is in accordance with the worship of Juggernaut 
and Vishnu and Brama. AVhen we accept the teachings of these dei- 
ties as divine truth, we shall be in the right position to argue ihat ques- 
tion. When we worship a God who is not the loving Father of all the 
tribes of men on the face of the earth, then we will talk about the ques- 
tion whether Slavery is or is not in accordance with that religion. To- 
day, we come here to argue in favor of a cause that, being right and 
benevolent in itself, is in harmony with every thing else which is right 
and benevolent. Aiming at the upholding of all that is good in God's 
universe, and believing that all which is good in the universe is in har- 
mony with His will, the only way in which we can be met is, by endeav- 
oring to prove to our human consciousness, to our human intellect and 
lieart, that Slavery is right — that it is right in itself to make merchan- 
dize of men — that it is right in itself to use labor whhout wages — that 
it is right in itself to darken the intellect by the prohibition of education, 
as well as the means of education — that it is right in itself to abolish 
marriage, and by law, and the strength of public sentiment, to enforce 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEEY SOCIETY. 73 

wholesale concubinage and adultery — right in itself to destroy the reli- 
gious sentiment of men, by stifling and smothering it — right in itself to 
turn a man into a beast, in order that another man may put the market 
price of him into his purse. When these things are proved, then we 
can accept the arguments of the theological defenders of Slavery. If 
we believe that such an institution is not right, and never can be right, 
that it is an outrage against man, and rank rebellion against God, then, 
the theological argument against us will be disregarded, and only the 
Paganism or the Atheism of those who object to our treating it as such 
will be made manifest. 

Mrs. Williams, of Wilmington, Del., (colored,) said she must be 
indulged in a few words. She spoke with much emotion and most 
impressively, remarking that she had attended but few Anti-Slavery 
meetings ; but, she continued, I have been told that these men (pointing 
to Messrs. Garrison, Burleigh and others on the platform) are my ene- 
mies, and the enemies of the colored people. Within a fortnight, I 
heard a Methodist minister, in Wilmington, say that these men are all 
Infidels. Now I have seen and heard these men myself, and I say freely, 
that 1 have heard more truth this morning, I have had my intellect more 
enlightened as to the character of God, and my heart more stirred with 
the love of God, than by all the preaching of all the ministers I ever 
listened to in my life. I wish that all the world were here to see and 
hear for themselves. I believe that all good and honest men would be- 
affected by the truth spoken here. The audience were, deeply moved 
by Mrs. W's earnest language, and she resumed her seat with the 
remark, " I couldn't help speaking ; I should have burst, if I hadn't." 

Wendell Phillips, Esq., of Boston, then took the platform, and 
said : — - 

SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

Mr. President : 

I wish, before this audience separates, to make a single remark in- 
regard to an observation of my friend Mr. Barker, that a distinction 
drawn between the condition of the suffering classes of his own country 
and the slave, may lose us the sympathy of his countrymen, settled here. 
I know that his long experience entitles him to speak on this topic with 
far more authority than any words of mine ought to have ; while his 
marked fidelity and disinterested devotion to our cause, on both sides of 



74 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSAKY OF THE 

the Atlantic, entitle his statements to still more weight. I must, how- 
ever, say that, judging from my own experience, I liave no hope, none 
whatever, of help to the Anti-Slavery cause, from the English emigrants, 
those from Ireland, or from the oppressed classes of any country in 
Europe. I believe they will be found the enemies, generally, of the 
Anti-Slavery movement; as all history shows us that no oppressed class 
of one nation has ever been able to sympathize cordially, or to do any 
thing eflectivcly, for the sufferers from a different oppression under 
another government. I believe every hundred men, added to our pop- 
ulation from foreign sources, are a weight in the scale against the Anti- 
Slavery movement, and that emigration would in itself be a serious 
obstacle to its progress, if beneath this opposition there did not lie the 
great principle, that every thing which tends to lessen conservatism, 
helps every other element of progress; and, consequently, that these 
classes of men, though hating the slave, as they uniformly have, and 
calumniating his friends, as they uniformly do, are in themselves uncon- 
sciously helping to resist the conservative tendency of this government, 
which so efiectively supports the system of Slavery. 

Again, before this assembly separates, I want to add my protest 
against the doctrine that it is true, in any degree, that the sufferings of 
men under European governments ought to be put on the same level 
with the sufferings of the slave in this country. Here, again, I would 
speak with due submission to the long experience and mature judgment 
of our friend. But he will allow me to say, that he seems to me to have 
overlooked one most important consideration — the first and greatest 
characteristic of his country — which is, that, in spite of all the disabili- 
ties he has mentioned, from the masses themselves — below the Aristoc- 
racy, below the class legislators, below the landholders — has sprung a 
very large share of the progress and improvement which England 
boasts ; and that those very laws which he has cited have been beaten 
down again and again by the intelligence and energy of those very 
classes they were meant to subdue. Where is there any picture like 
this among the slaves of the South? Every effort in their behalf is 
made from without. Slavery has been taking a downward course for 
seventy years ; adding horror to horror, bloody statute to bloody statute, 
selfishness to selfishness, privation to privation, until the Anti-Slavery 
movement, from wilhoiit, has succeeded in turning the eye of the world 
upon the Slave Power, and restraining its course of unmixed selfishness. 
But, contrariwise to this, the sources of the improvement made in Great 
Britain for a hundred and fifty years, and all over Europe, have been 
from within, — from the indignation, the intelligence, the force of the 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 75 

very classes with which the slave is assumed to be compared. While 
this fact remains, I do not care how often, in single items, the slaves 
may be compared to the oppressed of other lands. It is manifest, that 
the result of Despotism is one thing, and that of Slavery is quite another 
thing; that in the one case. Slavery kills the mind and cripples the in- 
tellectual energy of the enslaved class; that every generation sinks a 
degree lower than that which preceded it. The slave of to-day is worse 
off, practically, than the slave of our Revolutionary times, and the slave- 
holder of to-day would be a more cruel and remorseless master, but for 
the influence of the Anti-Slavery movement, (he was so before this 
movement commenced,) than his ancestor of seventy years ago. Now, 
it is a singular fact, not to be denied, in the face of the history of the 
last one hundred years, that the poorer classes of Great Britain and Ire- 
land have not only not fallen lower in the scale of manhood during the 
last century, but have grown better. 

Again : that our slaves have not been starved by millions, is not the 
merit either of the system or the masters, but is owing to the fact of 
their dwelling in a new country, a place where starvation, unless pur- 
posely and systematically sought for, cannot readily be found. The 
majority of the people of South Carolina have no element of improve- 
ment among them, but, on the contrary, ai'c losing, in every generation, 
their manhood ; their intellectual and moral condition is getting lower 
and lower every year, and cannot, therefore, be compared, in any re- 
spect, with that system of oppression in the old world, which, bloody as 
it is, has yet, by its own inherent force, wiped out bad legislation — the 
statute book becoming cleaner and purer every year. 

Let me say, however, that my friend will not find me objecting to any 
efforts on his part, however earnest or frequent, to show how cruelly 
oppressed, how miserable, how pitiable, how wronged, the English and 
Irish have been ; but when he has done it all, when he has made the 
picture black as he can paint it, I would then like to point the moral by 
saying. Here is the utmost that an Aristocracy, trusted with unlimited 
power for a thousand years, could inflict ; they could do nothing blacker 
than this ; and when you have painted it all, it is mid-noon compared 
with that blackness of darkness which broods over the Carolinas ! 
(Loud cheers.) My appeal to the emigrant would be, that, no matter 
how deep the pit into which he had fallen, an oppression which under- 
takes to maintain the forms of law, which does not burn martyrs, if it 
burn them at all, except after trial in open court, and with a decent 
respect for the forms of justice, is not to be compared with one which, 
mocking all law as well as justice and humanity, lights up the waters 



76 TWENTIETH ANNIVEKSARY OF THE 

of the Mississippi and the Ohio, and the cane-hrakcs of Alabama, with 
the actual burning of the body of a slave and his champion, in the Nine- 
teenth Century. When has this sight been seen in England for two 
liundred years ? When would it be possible, even in the bloody civili- 
zation of Europe, that four instances should occur, within twenty years, 
of men burned at the stake because they were heretics, either in Bir- 
mingham or in Manchester? — three within six months, as my friend 
(Mr. Garrison) reminds me? No; to the English emigrant, or to any 
other, we maintain that our cause — the cause of the slave — has an 
essentially distinct, a deeper, sadder, weightier claim on the humanity 
of the world, than even his. (Cheers.) 

I was anxious, Mr. Chairman, to make at least this brief expression of 
my opinion, before the audience, so properly disposed to yield implicit 
confidence to any opinion of Mr. Barker on this topic, should separate, 
lest his mistake, as I must think it, should weaken, in some degree, our 
appreciation of the unmatched wretchedness of the slave. 

Joseph Barker said that Mr. Phillips, in consequence of not having 
heard the whole discussion, had misunderstood his meaning, as well as 
the origin of the discussion relative to the oppressions of the British gov- 
ernment. Mr. Barker also made a frank concession of several positions 
stated by Mr. Quincy, with which Mr. Q. expressed himself perfectly 
satisfied. 

Adjourned. 



SECOND DAY — Afternoon Session. 

Previous to the calling to order. Sojourner Truth (formerly a slave 
in the Stale of New York) sang a plaintive song, touching the wrongs of 
the slave, and afterwards spoke of the wrong Slavery had done to her- 
self and others. 

The meeting having been called to order, 

Joseph Barker took the stand, and said that he had remarked, at the 
close of the morning session, that Mr. Phillips had partly misunderstood 
the position he occupied. It was a misapprehension to suppose that he 
intended, by any remarks which he had made, to divert attention from 
evils here at home, to evils far away across the Atlantic. That was suf- 
ficient for general explanation. But Mr. Phillips made one or two spe- 
cial remarks, which did not fall pleasantly upon his own mind, and per- 
haps it might be well to notice them, very briefly. First, let it be 



AMERICAN ANTI-Sr.AVERY SOCIETY. 77 

observed that the leading Atiti-SIavcry people were not to be looked for 
among the ruling classes. Mr. Phillips seemed to think that the op- 
pressed in one country were the people to take sides against those who 
were oppressed in another; and that the emigrants from Europe might 
naturally be expected to tal<e sides with the oppressors here, or to 
despise the claims of the op[)re3sed in this country. That the emigrants 
from Europe did not proj)crly understand American allairs, and that 
some of them, when they seemed to understand ihem, took wrong sides, 
was too true ; and it was also true, that persons who were brought up in 
Slavery were, when emancipated themselves, too prone to ape the 
tyrant who oppressed and crushed them before, and take sides against 
the classes still remaining in oppression. But the princijde was not a 
universal one. It was not true as regarded those who had come from 
England. No one in this country knew so many English emigrants as 
he (Mr. B.) did ; no one had had so many personal friends come to this 
country, and settle here ; and he would give it as his opinion, that, taking 
them numbers for numbers, the Abolilionists were as numerous amonji 
them, in proportion to their number, as among the native Americans of 
the Northern States. 

Mr. Barker said he wished the fact to be particularly remarked, tb.at 
the Abolitionists in England were not to be looked for among the Aris- 
tocracy. He knew of but two Aristocratic families which had com- 
mitted themselves to the American Anti-Slavery cause. The principal 
part of the Anti-Slavery senliment in England would be found among 
the working classes — among the oppressed and plundered ones. There 
were some among the middle and wealthy classes, who held Anti-Sla- 
very opinions, he was ready to admit, but the statement he had made 
he believed to be true in regard to the great muss of Anti-Slavery sen- 
timent across the water. 

There were some other points in Mr. Phillips's remarks that he was 
about to notice, but he would not further occupy the time, lest he should 
thereby prevent those who might be desirous of speaking on the great 
question of American Slavery from obtaining a hearing. He felt the 
greatest interest in the Anti-Slavery cause, and was most anxious for 
its continued progress, and for its ultimate triumi)h in the abolition of 
Slavery. He believed the cause would triumph, for it was based on 
right and truth, and it was sure to grow stronger and stronger, and 
ultimately to prevail. He knew that Mr. Phillips could not wish to do 
him any injustice, and he should be sorry if such an impression was left 
on his mind. His (Mr. B's) sole object had been, the establishment of 
universal and impartial Freedom in this land. (Cheers.) 

8 



-g TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Wknoem. rniLLiPs, Esq., of Boston, then took the platform, and 
spoke as fullows: — 

SPKKCir OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

Mr. President: 

I am very sorry tliat my remarks were made on a subject, the whole 
discussion of which I hud not heard, for I certainly did not intend to 
convey the impression which the friend who has just addressed us seems 
to have derived from those remarks. My admiration for him has always 
been proportionately greater from the fidelity with which he has avowed 
the same principles on this side the Atlantic, for which he contended and 
sLificred on the other. Undoubtedly, he knows the emigrant portion of 
his countrymen, and others from the neighboring countries of Europe, 
better than I do. I may be mistaken in taking a local fact for a gene- 
ral one, for I am sure I stated the facts exactly as we have experienced 
them in New England. I shall be glad to believe that Mr. Barker will 
be ab'e to retain over his countrymen here, that same influence which ho 
had idjroad, and that his own example will bring them to a frank and 
decided adherence to the Anti-Slavery movement. They can undoubt- 
edly give us great aid. Their own experience can aid us, and they will 
be free from many of the worst prejudices that influence Americans. 
Again: undoubtedly, Mr. Barker knows far more perfectly than I can, 
the condition of his own country, and wo are bound to give great weight 
to his opinion on this question. With these mutual explanations, I think 
Ave may leave the topic. 

This is the Twentieth Anniversary of the formation of the American 
Anti-Slavery Society. It seems good to look back, and see what these 
twenty years of our organization have effected — how much we have 
done towards the solution of the great Anti-Slavery problem with which 
we undertook to grapple. 

Mr. President, I think we have great cause for rejoicing, as we stand 
here to-day. Men liavc blamed our philosophy, found fault with the 
means and temper of the Anti-Slavery movement, ever since its com- 
mencement; have undertaken to criticise it constantly, and to predict its 
downfall. But, if driving every other question out of the arena, and 
making the Anti-Slavery question the only question of all parties and of 
the nation, be any approach towards triumph, no man will deny that 
from tlic President down to the humblest member either of the civil or 
religious bodies of this country, we have turned every man's eye toward 
the slave. It seems to me that when we have done this, we have half set- 



American anti-slavery societv. 79 

tied the Anti-Slavery question My friend Mr. Burleigh, this morning, 
spoke ot-the prejudice against us on account of the civil and religious po- 
sitions which we assume. 1 take it as full proof of our fidelity and effi- 
ciency, tliat we have preaclied ourselves into the character of Infidels. 
We know, in an individual case in this country, that when a man 
preaches honestly, he preaches liimself, in nine cases out of ten, out of 
the pulpit. Now, the account which we come up to render to the Amer- 
ican people to-day is, that we have preached ourselves out of the pulpit, 
we have preached ourselves out of all religious character, in a nation 
which undertakes to make slaveholding compatible with a religious 
character. I have no care, Mr. President, for the misunderstanding to 
w'hich Mr. Burleigh has alluded. Our main object is to state and reite- 
rate our principles, not caring very anxiously about their explanation. 
After all, the community is not so stupid as some men imagine it. 
When we undertake to array the moral sentiment of this nation against 
the Church, when we undertake to array the moral sentiment of this 
nation against the State, we may be called Infidels, and traitors, but very 
few men misunderstand either our position or our object. The presses 
of the country, the leaders of parties, may undertake to misrepresent 
and mystify, but the popular mind has an instinctive sagacity that under- 
lies all this ; and the past ten years sliow us, beyond all dispute, that the 
Anti-Slavery movement has been understood, for it has gained its foot- 
hold in those very quarters where this misrepresentation was expected 
to have the most effect — among the masses. The first decade of our 
existence, the first ten years, were a struggle to be heard. Those ten 
years w'ere marked by mobs, by popular resistance, by gag laws, by 
petitions smothered in Congress, by the impossibility of getting the ques- 
tion before the press. It was political suicide for a politician to touch 
the question ; it was suicide, in regard to influence and character, for any 
man to touch it. That was a coniention against the institutions of the 
"country, against its parties, its leading Church infiuences, and they were 
directed against us, to keep us down, and prevent our being heard. 
Correctly represented, the last ten years show a different aspect; — it is 
the institutions of the country, the leaders of parties and sects, struggling, 
not so much with us, but with their own masses. We have undermined 
tjiem, to a great extent, ^Ve have penetrated the popular apprehension. 
I do not mean to say, we have made men Abolitionists; that we have 
planted in their hearts distinct and conscious Anti-Slavery principles; 
but this we have done-^we have made men critical and vigilant watch- 
ers of the conduct of their leaders in Church and State, and it is no 
longer possible for these men to act as they did. They are obliged to 



80 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

turn round and use some method, not to oppose ns, but to smother the 
expression of Anti-Slavery feeling in their own party. The clTurts of 
Church and Stale are now used to dam up the expression of the popular 
sentiment of the nation on the subject of Slavery ; and we underrate, 
sometimes, the progress of our movement, from the very success which 
thev have in keeping down all ex[)ression of the public sentiment. To 
many minds, it was an unmixed surprise that " Uncle Tom " ran like wild- 
fire through the nation, and was responded to from every heart. They 
had judged of the nation by its only expounders, political leaders, religious 
leaders, and theological newspapers. They had judged of the America 
of \SfiO by the America of 1835, when a man consulted his interest by 
opposing the Anti-Slavery movement. But all popular changes are 
nimoted. liikc the sunbeam on the dial, we cannot see the motion, but, 
in course of time, it does strike twelve at last. (Applause.) So it is 
with the nation. These hearts that are beating behind the active drama 
uf life, and which, in the end, re-crcale the actor, have been silently, 
and unconsciously to themselves, breathing the atmosphere of an Anti- 
Slavery agitation, and changing their position, without knowing it. I 
know a leading member of the Massachusetts bar, — one of the leaders 
of the Whig party, — a man the farthest possible removed from any 
apparent influence from this Anti-Slavery movement, — a man who 
would never open one of our books, listen to one of our speakers, or 
show himself inside the walls of one of our meetings, — a man who 
would have scorned the Anti-Slavery movement, as beneath him, and as 
utterly powerless to touch the most trifling fibre of his being, — this man 
told me, that ten years ago, he asked himself the question, " Would you 
help a master regain his slave before a Massachusetts Court.? " and the 
answer he made was, "Yes, as readily as I would help him regain pos- 
session of any other piece of recognised property." And yet, silently, 
without liis being aware of it, so great a change had gone on in his own 
moral convictions, that when Sims was arrested, he asked himself again 
the question, " Would I now give my professional weight and personal 
influence in favor of the master.' " and, said he, " I shrank back from it 
with horror! " In this individual instance, we have an evidence, a sign, 
of that gradual leavening of public sentiment of which I have spoken. 

Let me allude to a single fact, which the last canvass in Massachusetts 
developed, to show the same thing. I remember, fourteen years ago, a 
" LinERATOR " contained a letter from Abbott Lawrence, in reply to a 
half dozen of us, who had asked him his opinion on the Anti-Slavery 
q\iestion, when he was a candidate for Congress. His answer was most 
contemptuous. It was substantially, " He had made up no opinion on that 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 81 

question, and if he had, he would not tell us what it was." He could 
afford to despise us. He strengthened his own cause by despising us. 
That was fourteen years ago. Last year, he came home from the Court 
of St. James. The Whig party asked the use of iiis name as their candi- 
date for Governor. He wants to be Governor. He would make a bridge 
from his dwelling in Park street to the Gubernatorial chair in the State 
House, of solid gold, if he could be permitted to walk over it. It has 
an excellent sound — Gorenwi' Lawrence. But he did not dare, — 
that proud and haughty Whig of '39, — he did not dare place himself 
before the Anti-Slavery common people of JMassachusctts, against 
HexNry Wilson, the "Natick Cobbler." (Loud clieers.) More than 
that, the proud and haughty Whig, who, in '39, gained strength by de- 
spising a letter signed by Francis Jackson, was content to leave the 
repose of his own house, and enter the field to prevent the election of 
that " Natick Cobbler," against whom he did not dare to place his name 
in the scale ! Fourteen years, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
liad, unheeded, made it not a seven per cent, stock to despise Abolition- 
ists, but one decidedly below par. (Laughter and cheers.) 

Just this change, Mr. President, has been going on all over the United 
States, in the habit of the people, unheeded ; and instead of a voluntary 
and eager defiance of the Abolitionists, the leaders of Party and the 
leaders of Church are engaged, at this moment, in holding back their 
own followers from the Anti-Slavery ranks, — endeavoring to retain their 
control over them. This is a great change. I have inadequately de- 
scribed it to you ; but if you catch in any degree my idea, you will per- 
ceive that one half the work is done, in a country like ours, where the 
people rule. Some men imagine that the great, dark, giant brows at 
AVashington mould the public sentiment of the nation. It is the same 
mistake that boys make, when they look at the machinery of a steam- 
ship, and fancy that the great, black, ponderous iron beam has the most 
to do in the motion of the boat; but down low, unseen, in the hollow of 
the ship, there is a rude figure, a hot fanatic, feeding the fire, and, afar 
off, in the pilot's house, there is a little hand on the wheel, — and they 
have more to do, although unseen, with the motion and guidance of the 
mighty mass, than the lumbering iron that is most in sight. (Loud ap- 
plause.) So it is with the great, palpable influences, as they are called, 
of party and sect. Lord John Russell says, " It is with parly as with 
snakes, the tail moves the head." (Laughter and cheers.) Tiiis is pe- 
culiarly so here. If you observe carefully the public men among us, 
you will see that they dare not venture to express their own opinions, but 
trim them down to the average men at home. They consult the masses. 

8* 



go TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Why, even tlic ablest of them, Mr. Adams, — who had outlived his sixty 
years, and had reached that period when, as it has been beautifully said, 
" a man begins to listen less to the promptings of ambition, and more to 
Ihe dictates of duty," — when even he first broke ground on the Anti- 
Slavery question in Congress, hastened to write home to the Old Col- 
ony to know whether he would be sustained. Even he was anxious to 
know what the response would be. Standing cushioned up there at 
AVashington, amid the leaders of party, on those barren and cold heights, 
he did not know the work that one or two men like those about me had 
been doing in his own District. Before that letter reached its destina- 
tion, the response of the Old Colony reached him, telling him he had not 
gone far enough. (Applause.) 

Now that I mention him, let me turn aside to say, that it was a bless- 
ing of God that gave us Adams in the first ten years of this great strug- 
gle. He was not a little man, who could be smothered down ; not a 
nameless man, who need not bo listened to; not one that party could 
afiord to bluff off or despise. He had won all offices, and was beyond 
the suspicion of personal ambition. AVith the laurels of forty years of 
public service on his brow, the first statesman and the ablest, by a 
most fortunate concurrence of circumstances, his hand was moved to 
grasp fast hold of the standard of Freedom of Discussion and Freedom 
of Petition ; and he stood there, so high, so much a giant in our political 
world, that he could neither be concealed nor conquered ; and if he had 
merely stood there silent, his silence was more eloquent than any other 
man's speech would have been. (Loud cheers.) When God gave us 
the name and service of Adams, the authority of his character and his 
standing for the Anti-Slavery movement in Congress, even half way as 
he then went, it was the sign and signet of His approbation. I think 
we cannot exaggerate the influence of the accession of that one 
man to the cause, at that time. 

Again : how great has been the change since then, all over the coun- 
try, in the religious world ! Mr. Adams is said to have remarked to his 
son, wl'.cn he first heard of the division of the Methodist Church, — 
" My son, you think more of politics ; you think more of the movements 
of men of great rank •, but I tell you that the breaking up of this reli- 
gious body is a more awful sign of a great change of opinion, than any 
thing that could have taken place ; for it reaches on over the heads of 
the leaders of party, to the people themselves, and shows which way the 
popular current is turning; and that is sure in the end to sweep every 
thing before it." 

In the religious world, it seems to mo that there has been a most 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 83 

marked and gratifying change. In New England, at least, \vc are per- 
mitted to draw our distinctions, to make our cliarges against tlio Church, 
to enter into argument with religious lenders, with perfect freedom — 
without so much as loss of reputation. The door is not shut, as it once 
was, against the first whisper of our argument. This is a strong evi- 
dence of our progress. I\Ien have begun, even the commonest rncm, no 
longer to listen to the old tale that the Abolitionists Iiatc the Church ; — 
they make a distinction. Parker Pillsbury is getting dangerously pop- 
ular throughout New England. We oppose the Church ; but is there a 
man here who supposes that we have any opposition to the Christian 
Church } Wherein have we manifested it ? Is there any man here 
who supposes that we have any opposition to the New Testament.^ 
Wherein have we shown it? In the first place, we arc old-fashioned 
enough to think on both points as the whole world does on the other side 
of the water. If there is any magic in majorities, we arc in the major- 
ity. Get beyond the smoke of your own prejudices — rise a little out of 
the American locality, and remember, that though the Abolitionists here 
may be alone in saying that the New Testament weighs more than the 
Statute Book, they have a glorious company in unison with them on the 
other side the Atlantic. In Faneuil Ilall, a leading politician undertook 
to remind the people that there were fanatics rising up — it was in 1835, 
before they had fully risen — who thought that "the New Testament 
weighed more than the Statute Book"! Well, we are the "fanat- 
ics" — we are " //mr." (Cheers.) We are the men who undertake to 
say, in opposition to the Church, that God never made a slave nor a 
slaveholder, (renewed applause) ; that the New Testament docs not 
sanction Slavery. Are we its enemies.? Shall we be placed lower in 
the list of its friends, than those who undertake to say it does.? Our 
Infidelity amounts to this: we say that Christianity does not sanction 
Slavery. Our treason amounts to this : we say that the blood of a 
crushed and brutalized race is not necessary to keep the nation together. 
My treason amounts to this : I say that Massachusetts does not make 
money solely because South Carolina plunders the blacks. Tliat is the 
amount of our infidelity and of our treason, broadly stated. Did you 
ever see a woodman go into the woods, in a December or January New 
England snow storm } What does he see .' I have heard my true- 
hearted friend, Lewis Ford, describe the scene and moralize on it thus: 
Laden with snow, the lithe branches of our New England pines bend 
heavily to the earth. They shut up the road, and make it impossible for 
him to take a step ahead. He takes one branch after another in his 



84 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

liaiul, :nic] shakes them free from tlie incumbent weight, and they spring 
up ayaiii, and point to heaven ; and if by chance he finds a tree so thor- 
oughly weighed down tliat it has no elasticity left, he cuts it down, and 
thus opens a path. Does the woodman, then, hate trees ? or merely seek 
a path to his field beyond ? So with us. There is the American Church. 
Behind it stand the slaveholder and slave ; behind it lies the means of 
reaching them, and effecting a deliverance of the captive. Weighed down 
with selfish interests, its brandies touch the earth. We shake now one, 
now anotlier, in the hope they will spring upward, and point to heaven ; 
and when one is broken beyond recovery, we cut it down. (Great ap- 
plause.) Does the woodman do so because he hates trees? — just as 
much does our course prove that wo hate churches. (Renewed ap- 
plause.) It is to reach our object ; and the only question between us 
and the community is. Is that object a good one, and is the course we 
pursue necessary in order to reach it ? The Abolitionist is only one who 
undertakes to say to these thirty thousand pulpits, — You say that your 
views of Christianity are right ; that your views of the relation of the Bible 
to Slavery are right. Now, you arc justified in placing that plea before 
the people ; and side by side with you, I also shall appeal to this great jury 
of our countrymen, which is as much my jury as it is yours. I have as 
much right to attempt to mould this moral sense with my ideas of Chris- 
tianity, as you have with yours. You call me " Infidel," and I call you 
" Infidel," — and there is only one word the more spoken. The Pope ex- 
communicated Luther, and Luther excommunicated the Pope, and pos- 
terity has sanctioned the latter excommunication, and laughs at the first. 
So we appeal to the verdict of the next generation, to say which was right, 
when they claim Christianity on their side, and we claim it on ours. We 
a])pcal to the verdict of bur countrymen, claiming that the New Testa- 
ment is ours, that the religious sentiment of human nature is ours, on 
this question; and our object — we confess it plainly — is to undermine 
tl'.c thirty thousand pulpits, while they undertake to stand as bases for 
the slave system — no longer. There is nothing remarkable in this posi- 
tion, if you will consider the radical character of the question at issue. 
It is proper to ask — Is the question radical enough to demand such an 
issue ? No man has a right to disturb the community for a trifle. If the 
disease is slight, if it is only superficial, if a hint in the morning news- 
papers will dispose of it, leave it to this, and do not undertake to disturb 
the comfort and the pleasant arrangements of society for nothing. Do 
not crci.te a storm over the whole Atlantic, merely to waft a nutshell to 
Its harbor. That is plain enough. But the question is, Can Slavery be 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 85 

treated thus? Remember, in the first place, it has two thousand mil- 
lions of dollars' worth of property; — property rules in such an age as 
ours. Remember that fifty millions of dollars, concentrated in the 
hands of the United States Bank, and scattered along the sea-board, was 
almost able to set at defiance the unmalch.ed popularity of Andrew Jack- 
son, and tear the nation asunder. About this money power, the Church 
and the State arc built like bulwarks. Remember, again, that these dol- 
lars are not in the hands of a scattered class and different interests, but are 
owned by a hundred thousand men, intelligent, sagacious, linked side by 
side, well-knowing that the spirit of the nineteenth century is against 
them, and that this is their death-grapple. They know they arc one 
solid column in the centre of a Waterloo whose troops arc the world, and 
that, unless they cling together with all the energy of absolute despair, 
they must go to the ground. 

Now, how are we to treat these hundred thousand sagacious, intelli- 
gent men, with two thousand millions of dollars, in a country where the 
sin of not being rich is only atoned for by the endeavor to become so.? 
Such a power is almost omnipotent; and yet there are those who seem 
to expect us to deal with it by a few fine words. The old Anti-Slavery 
men have sera] ed the tongue, and got the disease out of sight : we want 
to remove it. They were like the Hindoo, when the missionary showed 
him a glass of water through a microscope, and convinced him that, in 
drinking it, he swallowed flesh as much as if he had devoured a cow ; 
the poor man dashed the glass into fragments, — as if, by destroying the 
glass, he destroyed the fact. (Applause.) So there were men, in the 
beginning, who thought if they could only hang Garrison, they would 
get rid of Slavery; — like the ostrich, that hides her eyes in the sand, 
and thinks the enemy is gone ! 

The distinctive merit of the present Anti-Slavery movement is, that it 
has understood its functions ; that it has known how deep-rooted and 
anchored was the evil with which it had to grapple. It did not under- 
stand it at the outset. If not a merit, it was at least, in the circumstan- 
ces, a fortunate tiling, that our friend who sits here (Mr. Gakkisois) was 
blind enough to go to the iVmerican pulpit, at the commencement, and 
beg the clergymen of Boston to inaugurate this movement. He had the 
common faith of all Americans, that it was possible for a man standing 
quietly in the Church and State, to deal with such a question as this ; and 
in good faith, in perfect sincerity, he assembled the clergymen of his 
own city, with the design of submitting to them a plan of emancipation, 
confident they would aid him. Though disappomtcd then, still he went 



f^Q TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Oil, vcar after year, trusting tliat the Cluirch woukl yet awake to its duty. 
If the Anti-Slavery cause had taught us nothing else, it would be valua- 
ble ill having taught the weakness of our ecclesiastical organizations for 
any purjiose of reform like this. Who expects that religious organiza- 
tions formed like ours will be instrumental in the removal of great public 
sins ? Our pulpit is established on the '^ voluntary system " ; that is, the 
churciies choose their own ministers. What is the church in this coun- 
try ? It is a body of men, who assemble together, and choose a teacher 
to preach to ihcm. It is the best form of religious organization for a 
Rt-publio like ours, but it obeys the same law with all other religious 
institutions. 

Let us look at this a moment. Take the Catholics, for example. The 
Catholic, whellier he freezes with Fenelon in the snows of Canada, or 
burns with Xavier in the torrid zone, represents always the Pope. A 
young man goes out from Rome, and his brow never loses the impres- 
sion of that Bishop's hand at Rome ; because the created always has the 
form of the creator; the child bears the features of the parent; and the 
priest, no matter how near or iiow distant, how ignorant or how educated, 
whether Saxon or of any other race, he is still the reflection of Rome — 
ills creator. Take Episcopacy, also. The Episcopal Church is the 
child of the Aristocracy of Great Britain. Her pulpits are tenanted by 
those educated by the Aristocracy, sustained by the Aristocracy ; and, 
as a consequence, Macaulay has told us that for one hundred and fifty 
years, in all the crises of British affairs, the Episcopal Church has never, 
for a moment, even by accident, found itself on the side of popular 
rights, — because there, too, the created reflects the creator. The pulpit 
based on Aristocratic institutions, must be essentially Aristocratic. 

This rule, which is true in Italy and in England, is true also 
here, and the pulpit of this land, the created of the pews, oboya the 
pews, rcllecis the pews. If you say, the minister is bound to speak the 
truih to his people, and rebuke their sins, ovon Qt the risk of starvation, 
I aduiit that he may be bound to do this — nay, he is bound ; wo are all 
bound to be saints, but how few are so ! Saints do not travel in hattali 
ions, no, nor in regiments — -they go alone. Wo have now and then 
one, Wc iiavc one at Brooklyn ; wo have one at Boston ; we have one 
at Worcester; wo havo one at Syracuse ; but those men are saints in 
spile of circumstances, not in consequenoe of them, and I am speaking 
of tlio influonoe of circumstances upon masses ; I take no nato now of 
the exceptions. There are always saints in spite of circumstances ; but 
llie American Church cannot be expected, jn the very nature of the 



AMEKICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 87 

case, to rebuke a great popular sin. It would be a stream rising higher 
than the fountain, if it were so. David did not send for Nathan — he 
never would have sent for him ; and the American people do not choose 
to pay for ministers to be Nathans to them. This is not to be expected, 
and ijo ■ are the hard critics, if you do expect it. The clergy lie under 
the weight of the same burden of human nature as other men. Tiiey 
have the same failings, the same virtues, and tlie same temptations that 
we have. There is a good deal of human nature in the world. (Laugh- 
ter.) You cannot expect to form institutions, and by any jugglery to 
make them better than the average of human nature. He that expects 
the American Church to lead in such an unpopular reform as this, ex- 
pects the stream to be higher than the fountain ; expects the sinner to 
go in search of his rebukcr; expects men, common men, because they 
stand in a pulpit, to criticise relentlessly the very men upon whose good 
opinion depends their own welfare and that of their children. Now, this 
is not in human nature. Sydney Smith tells us that he once went down 
to Litchfield to attend an ecclesiastical Convention, and talk on the Cath- 
olic question; the excitement ran high — it was 1827. He made a 
speech in favor of the Catholics' right to vole. He says, the vote being 
taken, he was left in a glorious minority of one. As he walked down 
the main aisle of the church, a brother clergyman caught him by the 
hand, and said — "Mr. Smith, I agreed with you in every word you 
said." " Why, then, didn't you vote with me ? " asked Smith. " Be- 
cause I have eleven children, and my patron is bitterly Anti-Catholic," 
said the man ; " and," says Smith, " I held up both hands, and begged 
him to vote against me to the day of his dealli." 

You see, therefore, that, in the very nature of the relation of the 
Church to the people, it is not to be expected that it should do otherwise 
than oppose the Anti-Slavery movement ; and, as a consequence, we 
have been obliged to do just what all other radical questions have done, 
in all ages of the world — come out. Men seem to dread coming out, 
as if it was morally very difficult to come out from the nice comfortable 
organizations in which our fathers have nestled us so long. It is very 
difficult. But how does God move the world forward ? By men who 
smother their own convictions and conform to the customs about them } 
by men who tell only half the truth they see, and, saving thus their 
respectability, hold on to old institutions, whose shortcomings they con- 
fess, in hopes so to improve them : Are these God's best instruments } 
No. Let those who are but half awake grope thus their way along, 
afraid to cut loose from old leading-strings. But let whoever lionestly 



gg TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

things lie sees a new and vilal truth, proclaim all his thought, and act on it. 
If it lead him, like John the Baptist, into the wilderness, let him trust God 
that he will be the herald of a better day. " Come out, my people, and be 
separate," is not the lesson of any one time, but is meant for each soul 
and every age. Luther came out, and he incurred the hatred of his gen- 
eration because he did so. He used the same policy which the Abo- 
litionis;s have adopted, in the last decade, in which I am speaking. We 
used to apologize ; we used to defend ourselves once. We used to 
jnake ingenious and plausible arguments to show the so-called Church 
her short-comings ; but we have learned better, and agree now with 
MclancMion, who tells us, that the Reformers, though they apologized at 
first, when, in a few years they had probed the Catholic question, did 
not apologize, but boldly proclaimed, " We are the Church, and who- 
ever separates from us is a heretic." So far as the Anti-Slavery element 
of Christianity is concerned, and so far as your bosoms are moved by 
an honest purpose to help the slave, this meeting is nearest to the ideal 
Christian Church that is met to-day in your city ; for it means to apply 
Chrisiianity to the sins that arc walking to-day up and down your streets, 
and of course it is martyred. It was not the Sermon on the Mount that 
made C!u-istianity hateful. Confucius had almost anticipated — yes, in 
part he anticipated the Sermon on the Moimt and the morality of the New 
Testament. That " to sufler is better than to injure," is five hundred 
years older tlnn Christ; to "love another as you love yourself," is, 
even in i:s own form, older than the New Testament by three or four 
centuries; indeed, as old as Moses. But, before the time of the Savior, 
this truth was writ down for the educated, for men abstracted from 
the common walks of life. lie took it like a lighted torch, and carried 
it up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and flared it in the faces of the 
living sinners. (Loud cheers.) Applying old principles to dominant sins — 
this is wiiat earns martyrdom. Weighing truth in nice scales of abstract 
speculation — sounding on and on, no matter how boldly, in Plato's 
grove — is little objected to; it is when Socrates mocks at the |)opu- 
lar faith in the very streets of Athens, in words the commonest can 
understand, that they brow hemlock for him. 

I will find an opportunity, during another session, to speak more at 
large on this topic* 



• Sec Mr. TiiiLnrs's Speech, on page 103. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 89 

Miss Susan H. Cox said that any one who could leave that assembly, 
and speak against the cause for which it was convened, nnust have a 
heart blacker than Egypt, and darker than a starless night. God himself 
had betrayed his presence that day. She knew it, by the evidence of 
her own spirit. Therefore, let glory be given to his name, for there 
was no other name given under heaven whereby men should be saved, 
but by the name and the power that was in Jesus Christ, who had said, 
" Let the oppressed go free ! " — " Break every yoke ! " Let all secta- 
rian prejudices be banished, and let them love one another. Pure, holy 
love would conquer every thing. The truth would make them strong 
and fearless ; it would wake woman's voice, for 

" While woman's heart is bleeding, 
Can woman's voice be dumb ? " 

They should love the truth, in order that they might be children of trutii, 
and free their own souls from error, that they might be able to free their 
brother. 

William Lloyd Garrison, (the President,) calling on Mr. Quincy, 
one of the Vice Presidents, to take the chair, then addressed the audi- 
ence, as follows : — 

SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 

Mr. Chairman : 

At this stage of our proceedings, this afternoon, I will not attempt to 
make an elaborate speech. It seems to me that no stronger proof of 
the deep degradation into which this nation has fallen, religiously, could 
possibly be adduced, than a defence, such as we had this morning, 
from the lips of our friend Mr. Burleigh, of a gathering like this, on this 
day of the week. The very fact, that we are put on trial, and are called 
upon to plead guihy or not guilty to the charge of Infidelity, or Sabbath 
breaking, in gathering together to " remember those in bonds as bound 
with them," is a fact utterly condemnatory of the prevailing religion. And 
we are gravely to defend ourselves against this imputation, made by a 
people who hold in their hands the New Testament, and read therein, 
complacently and approvingly, the scorching rebuke of Jesus to the 
Pharisees, who upbraided him as " not of God," because he healed the 
sick on the Sabbath day ! " Are there not six days of the week," they 
asked, " on which the sick may come and be healed.? " So, by nearly 
every religious denomination in the land, it is asked, " Are there not six 



go TWENTIETH ANNMVERSARY OF THE 

days of the week in which the cause of the slave can be advocated, 
without desecrating the Lord's day by an Anti-Slavery gathering ? " In 
this creat city, I presume if a verdict of tlic churches could be taken, 
in regard to the propriety of our being here for such a purpose to-day, 
we shouUl find almost a unanimous vote recorded against us. We are 
1 ere to help consummate the glorious mission of Jesus on earth, to raise 
up tlie bowed down, to deliver those who are oppressed and in prison ; 
yet, we are desecrators of the Sabbath day ! One thing is certain. Na- 
ture knows nothing of holy time. To-day the sun shines, as it did yes- 
terday, and as it will to-morrow. Ail the operations of Nature are uni- 
form through all the days of the week. Hence, as many babes will be 
born of slave mothers to-day, as were born yesterday. Would to God 
there were a Sabbath day, on which no slaves could be added to the 
millions already in bonds ! But, alas ! no less than three hundred new 
victims will be born, seized and registered as property, on this " day of 
the Lord," by those who claim to hallow the day. And we are accused 
of desecrating it, because we are assembled to undo every burden and 
break every yoke ; while those who are performing their ceremonial wor- 
ship are the only genuine " Christians " in the land ! There are fifty-two 
Sabbaths in the year, and on these alone, the increase of the slave popu- 
lation is not less than fifteen thousand ! Put these wretched victims into 
one scale, and all the popular religious worship in the land into the 
other, and that worship will assuredly kick tlie beam. (Applause.) 

We are Infidels, are we } Well, who would be recognised otherwise 
in a land like this } Who that is honest, manly, humane, — who that loves 
God, and loves his race, — would desire, for one moment, to pass cur- 
rent in this blood-stained nation as a religious man .'' He who is willing 
to be poffularly recognised as such, ought to hang his head for shame, 
and hide himself, until he is willing to come out and be branded as an 
" Infidel." Why do I say this } Because a religious reputation neces- 
sarily implies conformity to popular ideas and usages, and especially 
abject subserviency to the will of the Slave Power ; that he who pos- 
sesses it is a sycophant, a trimmer, or animated by the unnatural spirit 
of colorphobia. How is it possible, then, for such a man to be a 
sincere disciple of Him who was willing to be "made of no repu- 
tation," and to be accounted as one having a devil, in order that he 
might bless and save a lost and suffering race .? Infidels, are we > 
What religious character had they whose memories we venerate.? 
How did the prophets stand in their day and generation.? As infidel 
to the popular religion — assailing, boldly and daringly, the holiest insti- 
tutions, so esteemed — saying, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 91 

of Sodom ; give ear unto the law of our God, yc people of Gomorrah. 
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me.' saith the 
Lord. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I can- 
not away with. When ye make many prayers, 1 will not hear. Your 
hands are full of blood. Wash you ; make you clean ! " How did 
such language then sound, do you suppose, in the ears of the " godly," 
falsely so called ? Of course, they were the infidels of their times. Yet 
we are the people who venerate their memories, and record our judg- 
ment that the true religion was with them, and that they who put them 
to death, ostensibly for the glory of God, were animated by a Satanic 
spirit. But suppose that the prophets had contented themselves with 
simply extolling Abraham and Moses, and conforming to die popular 
standard of piety — Avould that have beeo any evidence of their love of 
God or man ? None whatever. 

Why do we love Jesus.' Why do we dwell with such fondness and 
delight upon his character.' He was "despised and rejected of men," 
in his day. Paul, Peter, and the rest of the Apostles — were they 
regarded as religious men while living.' What if they had been satis- 
fied with looking back to the past, and glorifying those already glorified .' 
What would it have availed, in regard to the redemption of the world ? 
But they purposely eschewed a reputation for piety in their day. Jesus was 
crucified for no other alleged reason than that he was too wicked to live. 
He was regarded as a more heinous criminal than Barabbas, who was 
both a thief and a murderer. The Apostles were " pestilent and sedi- 
tious fellows," " seeking to turn the world upside down" — "the filth 
of the earth, and the offscouring of all things." Of course, they had no 
religious reputation. 

Why is it that we, Protestants, venerate Luther.' You know very 
well that he was branded as a heretic and an Infidel, and dared to be 
regarded as such ; and that he stood up against all that was popularly 
esteemed as truly religious. And yet, we love him, admire him, and 
proudly refer to him as the great champion of Christian liberty, as per- 
taining to the rights of conscience. George Fox, William Penn, and 
Robert Barclay — what were they, and those who associated with them .' 
Were they "religious" people, and so endorsed, in their generation.' 
No ; just the reverse. But they did not shrink from the charge of her- 
esy, and were willing to be called " Infidel," for the Truth's sake. And 
do we not hallow their memories as truly good men, " of whom the 
world was not worthy " .'. 

In our country, how easy it is for every clergyman — manufactured 
according to a particular pattern, and also to order — to stand up and 



90 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

say, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ " — fancying he has 
made out a clear case, in regard to his piety ! He is not ashamed of 
Christ at New Orleans, or Charleston, or Savannah, or any where else 
in this country — not he! And people exclaim — " What a pious saint 
lie is, surely ! " Pious ! What is the quality of bis piety ? what the 
proof of his being in principle a good man ? Is it to be found in the 
fact, that he uses, like a parrot, the words of a book universally vene- 
rated, and of a faith every where embraced ? It is an idle pretence, an 
empty boast. The test, which, eighteen hundred years ago, was vital 
and searching, is now like " salt which has lost its savor, fit only to be 
cast out, and trodden under foot of men." In our day, a popular pro- 
fession of faith in Christ is as worthless as was the popular belief in 
Moses and Abraham in the days of Jesus. But when Paul stood up and 
said, " I am determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, 
and liim crucified,'''' that was to be sublimely heroic. It meant some- 
thing — every thing; a willingness to suffer the loss of all things for the 
truth. For who was he, of whom he thus spoke .'' It was of one recently 
crucified between two thieves, and regarded as worse than either; of 
one outlawed by all that was respectable, and honorable, and pious. 
Yet, in the face of persecution and death — in the face of" principalities 
and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places" — he could cour- 
ageously exclaim, " I am determined to know nothing among you, save 
Jesus Christ, and him crucified ! In him I see a deliverer, a Saviour, 
the true Messiah ; and, therefore, I take my lot with him, persuaded that 
neither life nor death, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present 
nor things to come, shall be able to separate me from the love of God in 
Christ Jesus." Such a declaration, as a religious profession, means 
nothing now. The times are changed. We are living in another age, 
under other circumstances, which alter the case entirely. Christ is now 
every where honored and accepted ; but, I warn you, it is not the Christ 
of Judea. No, but a slave-holding, slave-driving, slave-breeding, and 
slave-trading Christ ; for this nation will have no other Christ to reign 
over it. You sec, therefore, that a public profession of faith in Christ 
costs nothing, tries nobody, is every where respectable, and every where 
leads to promotion in the Church and in the Government; and so is 
good for nothing. 

How many there are, who have gone to their churches to-day, to per- 
form public worship I But theirs is a pro-slavery worship. It consents 
toUie enslavement of those three hundred babes, to whom I have re- 
fernd. They can sit down in their richly cushioned pews, and bravely 
swig martyr songs and hymns, as though they were ready to confront 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 93 

" the world, the flesh, and the devil," no matter how great the odds. 
Hear them ! 

" Tliongli earth against my soul engage, 
And hellish darfs be hurled, 
Still I can smile at Satan's rage, 
And face a frowning world." 

Now, every hody knows that they cannot face their next-door neighbor. 
(Great laughter.) This is simply to be in the fashion ; it is to be he- 
roic — where there is no danger, where the "offence of the cross" has 
ceased. It is to have the "form of godliness, without the power." 
They are cowardly and time-serving ; and the reason they are not found 
on the side of the slave to-day is, because theirs is a religion which goes 
only " in silver slippers," and cannot endure persecution. 

Let me illustrate the point which I wish to impress upon your minds, 
touching a Christian profession in this country. Tf I should go over to 
England, and travel from the Land's End to John o' Groat's, exclaiming, 
"I am not ashamed to be known as an Abolitionist," would that be an 
indication of moral courage .'' Would it be any test of character .'* No. 
Why ? Simply because there is nothing more popular in England than 
the Anti-Slavery cause. When Prince Albert can afford to take the 
chair, at an Anti-Slavery meeting in Exeter Hall, and Queen Victoria 
to be a patron of the movement, and all classes of the people are loud 
and hearty in their denunciations of Slavery, it is an easy matter to 
make a profession of Anti-Slavery faith ; for it is saying nothing more 
than this — "I am not ashamed to stand by the side of Prince Albert; 
I am not ashamed to be with Queen Victoria, and all the people of Eng- 
land." But in this land, where Anti-Slavery is abhorred, and scouted, 
and crucified, it is another matter. Then, every where openly to say — 

" I am an Abolitionist ! 
I glory in the name, 
Though now by Slavery's minions hissed. 
And covered o'er with shame" — 

means something; it is at ]eixs[ prima facie evidence, that he who tlius 
avows his sentiments is one who loves God, and loves his suffering bro- 
ther man. 

Well, my friends, we are accused of Infidelity. We cannot be other- 
wise esteemed, while things remain as they are, and we are true to the 
right. But let us take this for our consolation, as Paul did, " It is a 
small thing to be judged of man's judgment ; " and again, " If wc suffer 
with Ilim, we shall also reign with Him." It will all come right in the 
end. 



94 TV\^ENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Look at the matter, for a momont, in regard to the Bible, so much 
prized, professedly, in our land. You know that, among the slave pop- 
ulation, that book is not allowed to be read. The American Church and 
clergy conspire, systematically and wilfully, to deprive them of it, 
though it is able to make those who read it " wise unto salvation." We 
are here to open the way for the circulation of that book, so that all who 
have it not may possess it ; and yet, we are " Infidels," and they who 
take away the Bible are "Christians"! Who would not be such an 
" Infidel," or who would be such a "Christian " ? 

If you dare to doubt the plenary inspiration of the Bible, wo be unto 
you ! Take care how you exercise freedom of mind and of conscience, 
in reading the Bible ! Take care how you entertain a doubt, whether 
every word in the book, from Genesis to Revelation, was given directly 
by the spirit of God, and is therefore true ! A short time since, I went 
to Hartford, to attend a " Bible Convention," the call setting forth, that, 
inasmuch as a great variety of conflicting opinions prevailed, in regard 
to the Bible, all persons interested in the question were respectfully 
invited to come together, each one to speak his own thoughts and pre- 
sent his own views; so, if possible, to effect a greater unanimity of sen- 
timent. And yet, before that Convention assembled, the pulpits all over 
the country denounced it as an Infidel Convention, and the religious and 
political press joined in the outcry. But while you and I may not raise a 
doubt as to the plenary inspiration of the Bible, except to the injury of 
our character, the great religious bodies in our country may combine to 
suppress that volunfie among millions of heathenized slaves, and their 
character for piety is not to be brought into question, for one momeat ! 

Let me say one word, in conclusion, in regard to this outcry of "Infi- 
delity." I maintain that, whoever raises it, simply on the ground of a 
diiference of opinion respecting the Bible, is a man who, if he calls him- 
self a Protestant, should get down on his knees and crawl all the way to 
Rome, and submissively kiss the great toe of tlie Pope. (Cheers.) How 
is it possible, among Protestants, for any man to be an Infidel > Infidel 
to what, or to whom .? What is Infidelity ? Who shall oracularly de- 
termine what it is.? Who shall play the Pope? I differ from another 
in my interpretation of the Bible, and he calls me an Infidel. Very 
well. He differs from me as widely as I do from him — shall I apply 
to him the same invidious epithet.? What will be gained by it to either 
of us.? The right of private judgment was the great distinctive doc- 
trine of the Protestant Reformation, and it for ever puts an end to 
Papal infallibility. 

In Catholic Europe, a man may be an Infidel, because the Catholic 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEHY SOCIETY. 95 

Church is to judge in all matters of faith. But when it comes to Pro- 
testantism, tlie right of every man to think, speak and judge for iiimsclf, 
is acknowledged to be absoluie and paramount. The Protestant, there- 
fore, who raises the cry of " Infidel" against another, becaus'e he does 
not accept his views of the Bible, or of religious doctrine, is only so in 
name, but a Romanist in spirit, by his assumption of the robes of Infal- 
libility. (Applause.) It is for every man to " be fully persuaded in his 
own mind." " So, then, every one of us must give account of himself to 
God," and to nobody else in the world. 

Adjourned, to 7 o''clock, P. M. 



SECOND DAY — Evening Session. 

On taking the chair, Mr. Garrison made a few remarks, explanatory 
of the views he advanced ia the afternoon, as to the essentially popish 
and anti-Protestant assumption of tlie charge of " Infidelity " upon any, 
for their interpretation of the Bible. 

Miss Wright read some original verses of encouragement to those, 
who, after twenty years' struggle against the Slave Power, might feel 
disheartened. 

Rev. Samuel J. May then took tlie platform, and spoke as follows: — 

SPEECH OF REV. SAMUEL J. MAY. 

Mr. President : 

It is not my intention to detain you long with what I have to say. 
There are others here, whom I know you are more desirous to hear than 
myself. I rise, that I may identify myself with this cause anew, and 
with the peculiar feature of this cause, which is exhibited before the peo- 
ple of this city to-day. I rise to declare myself a member of tlie Anti- 
Slavery Church that meets here to-dciy (applause) ; to declare my belief 
that it is the true Church of Christ and of God in America. I am, as 
you know, a minister, yet in tolerably regular standing with a denomi- 
nation of some respectability in certain portions of our country. It was 
said yesterday by our friend from Ohio, (Mr. Barker,) that he had no 
reputation to lay upon this altar. I have a very small reputation still 
remaining, I believe, which I hope you will be so kind as to accept, as 
an oflering upon this altar, if it be worth any thing. (Cheers.) 



96 TWENTIETH ANMVEKSARY OF THE 

I remember as the best — yes, when I look at it in all its connections 
and influences upon my life, I regard it as the happiest day of my exist- 
ence tlic day which brought me acquainted with Willia3i Lloyd 

Garrison. It was at an early day, yes, on the day when he com- 
menced his first Anti-Slavery lectures in Boston, October, 1830 — and 
never was I more impressed by the religious spirit of any man, than I 
was with the religious spirit of him, who has since been so traduced as 
an encmv of all religion, and an Infidel. The first day that I spent with 
liini, I well remember,' was in reading copies of the letters, which he had 
written to the prominent ministers of religion in various parls of our 
country ; not doubting then, for a moment, that when he should have 
spread before them the facts that had come to his knowledge during his 
residence in Maryland, and when he had explained to them so clearly as 
he had, the claims of the enslaved upon their sympathy and efforts — 
not doubting that they would at once espouse their cause, and be the 
leaders in the work of their redemption. I returned to the ciiy of Bos- 
ton a few months after the commencement of his work, and I shall 
never forget the expression of disappointment with which he met me, 
and told me that these letters had either received no notice at all from 
these prominent clergymen, or cold repulses. But yet, after all, he 
retained his faith in the ministers and churches, and his confidence in the 
professing members in those churches. It was not, indeed, until patience 
had almost ceased to be a virtue, and the demands of the enslaved were 
upon him, that he renounced his confidence, and set up a new Church of 
God in this land, u Church of such as would break the yoke of the op- 
pressed. 

I have not yet abandoned the sect, — if it must be called a sect, — to 
which 1 belonged, nor have I ceased to labor in the pulpit ; bbt it has 
always been with the explicit avowal of my " unity" (to use a beautiful 
expression of the Friends' Society) with Williaji Lloyd Garrison; and 
it is known of all men, who know me, tliat I leave the pulpit, when 
^VlLLIAM Lloyd Garrisjon will not be welcomed there as often as he 
will favor us with a visit. (Loud applause.) Never sliall I maintain my 
place in what shall be called a Christian pulpit, except so long as the 
doctrines of Anti-Slavery, the rights of all men, especially the rights of 
these men, to whom their rights have been so long denied, shall be re- 
cognised as a subject appropriate for the most earnest discourses which 
the minister, or those whom he may invite to his pulpit, can deliver to 
the people. Such has been my course from the beginning ; and I re- 
joice to know that there are others, who are still maintaining their places 
in the pulpit, and their fidelity to tlic slave. The pulpit has been a great 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 97 

instrLimentalily in the cause of God and Humanity; it will yet be a 
great instrumentality. I acknowledge the important services of the 
press ; 1 recognise the momentous influence that is flowing forth from 
the Lyceum, where a greater freedom is allowed, if I may so say, than 
in the pulpit ; I shall never cease to speak in the strongest commenda- 
tion of the power for good which I tliink is wielded in Anti-Slavery 
gatherings, and in all other assemblies called by true and faithful men 
and women for the especial consideration of any great cause, and the 
advancement of truth on the earth. But, still, I cling to the pulpit, in 
tlie hope that it may yet redeem itself from that thraldom into wliich it 
has been brought by the Slave Power of our land. I believe that it will 
yet be redeemed, and that ere long the ministers of religion shall every 
where be found as true to the slave as they are to the deepest convic- 
tions of their own souls. 

Sure am I, that no one who was present at the formation of the Amer- 
ican Anti-Slavery Society, whether as a member of the Convention, or 
as a witness of its proceedings, — sure am I, that no one who was there 
failed to be impressed with the deeply religious spirit that pervaded those 
who engaged in that enterprise ; and it has not been the fault of the 
Abolitionists that they have not retained their connection with the minis- 
ters and the churches in our land. The time is coming when the truth 
on this subject will be told ; and it will be seen that it was not until after 
we were repulsed again and again, rudely repulsed, and covered with 
every epithet of condemnation, that we turned us from the Church of 
the land to the people and to God. In my discourse this morning, in the 
pulpit of that noble brother who has maintained himself in this city, as a 
minister of religion, without compromising in the least his fidelity to the 
slave, — in the pulpit of Willia3I H. Fukness, I said, as I have often 
said, and as I say again, that if I were called upon to quote that passage 
of Scripture v.hich, more than any other, sets before us the peculiar and 
distinguishing difference of Christianity from all other religions, it would 
be this : — " If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there " — even thercy 
when about to engage in what most men account a peculiar religious^ 
service — " there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee^ 
leave there thy gift on the altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to< 
thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." True is it, as brother 
Phillips said, that some of those precepts of Christianity which have 
been by most persons regarded as peculiar to Christ, had been uttered' 
before ; but, let me tell my brother, they were uttered, but not e.\actly in- 
the connection in which Christ placed them. True is it, that ]\Ioses and 
the prophets taught, as the first and great commandment, " Thou shah 

10 



gg TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

love tlie Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and 
stren'^th" ; and yon may also find, in the writings attributed to Moses, 
the second command, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But 
yoH do not find the two comtnandmcnts placed upon the same level of im- 
portance. It was left for Jesus Christ to show that the second command, 
that which respects our duty to our fellow-men, is as great even as the 
first, which respects our duty to God, and that the two are inseparable. 
The peculiarity of Christianity is, that it holds up benevolence to man 
as the only unequivocal evidence of true piety to God. " Honor the 
kinrr" — "Honor great men" — was a command given of old; given 
in the writings of Moses and the prophets. " Honor all men" was first 
f^iven by an Apostle of Christ ; " Honor Humanity" ; and the teaching 
of Christ is, that he only who honors man — the highest manifestation of 
God upon earth — he only who honors Humanity, can honor the Father. 
His beloved Apostle said, " If a man say, I love God, and hate his 
brother, he is a liar." " Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, 
how dwelleth the love of God in him } " This, friends, is the peculiar- 
ity of the religion of Jesus, the distinguishing characteristic of Christi- 
anity ; and it is because the Anti-Slavery host are inculcating obedience 
to the second command, as that which, more than all else, has been neg- 
lected in our land, that I cling to Anti-Slavery as the true Church in 
America. True is it, that, in other parts of the world, it is now no test 
to declare one's self an Abolitionist. True is it, as Mr. Garrison so 
clearly expressed to us, that in our country, and in most parts of Chris- 
tendom, there is now no courage required in declaring one's self to be a 
disciple of Jesus Christ. But to declare one's self to be a brother of the 
lowest, the most despised in this land, and to claim for that brother the 
inalienable rights of humanity, that, indeed, requires still some courage, 
and I therefore honor those who do it. I ask not what may be a man's 
profession or faith ; I ask not what may be a man's creed or system of 
theology ; I ask only whether he gives unequivocal evidence of his fidel- 
ity to God, and his love of the Father, by his fidelity to the right and his 
love of the brethren, (applause,) especially his poor brethren. 

Edmund Quincy, Esq., took the platform, and spoke as follows: — 

SPEECH OF EDMUND QUINCY. 
Mit. President : 

My excellent friend who has jvist taken his seat, spoke of the reputa- 
tion which he had left, and which he was ready, as we all know he is. 



AMERICAN ANTI- SLAVERY SOCIETY. 99 

and has ever been, to lay upon the ahar of tliis cause. I do not know, 
sir, for my own part, how I stand in the matter of reputation (laughter) ; 
I do not know that I have much character. Perhaps I have lost my 
reputation ; but I can honestly say, I never missed it. (Laughter and 
applause.) Perhaps I did not have much to lose ; hut if I ever did lose 
any, I imagine that I have " gained a loss " ; for I can truly say, that I 
have been a great deal happier since I became an Abolitionist than 
before. Whether it was because I had lost that troublesome thing called 
reputation, I cannot say; but I am very glad at the result. 

Men speak sometimes — outsiders and insiders — of the sacrifices 
which Abolitionists have made in joining the cause. "Well, sir, I know 
that some persons have made sacrifices; that some persons have sacri- 
ficed their means of subsistence — that men have left their pulpits — 
that men have straitened their families — that men have actually encoun- 
tered inconvenience, serious inconvenience, in consequence of having 
joined the cause; but I have yet to see the man, even if he had experi- 
enced these evils, who, acting from an honest conviction of duty, ever 
repented it. I, to be sure, have not had to encounter any such incon- 
veniences or evils. I have not been permitted to offer any such testi- 
mony, or give any such seal of my apostleship. I am conscious of no 
sacrifices that I have made. I do not know, sir, that the Anti-Slavery 
cause owes any thing to me ; but I do know, that I owe almost every 
thing to the Anti-Slavery cause. (Loud cheers.) I do not know, sir, 
whether the slaves of the South are going to reap any benefit from any 
thing I have ever said or done in their behalf; but I know very well 
that the slaves of the South have done me an infinite benefit, by the 
efforts they have caused me to make in their behalf. It really seems to 
me surprising that men do not come into our cause faster than they do. 
It is the one thing to -be done, it seems to me, by a man of common 
sense, of common humanity, a man of intelligence, a man who wishes, 
of course, to make his mark, in some slight degree, upon his age, — for 
every man, whether great or small, whether strong or weak, wishes to 
make some mark, however slight, upon the age in which he lives, to lay 
a hand, however feeble, upon the great movement which is carrying for- 
ward Humanity from the dead Past to the living Present and the 
prophetic Future. It is a common, just and honorable wish, and all men 
feel it, in some degree, only they do not know exactly how to carry out 
their desire. They join the Whig or the Democratic party, perhaps. 
Heavens ! Mr. President, what an outrage on a man's nature ! Think 
of a man devoting his thoughts, his wishes, his purposes, his efforls, liis 
time, his means, to the carrying forward of the Democratic parly, for 



IQO TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

example! — to putting Franklin Pierce in the Presidential chair! — 
to the establishing of such a Government as now presides over the 
destiny of this nation! It seems to me about as small a business as 
a man can possibly be engaged in (loud cheers); if there be any thing 
smaller, it is the endeavor to put the Whigs there. (Laughter and cheers.) 
I can hardly conceive of men of intelligence, talent and sagacity, of . 
earnest men, wishing to do something, wasting their time in this way; — 
and I do not think the Free Soilers are much better employed, although 
I believe they are better intentioned. I think the great mass of Free 
Soilers are honestly and sincerely desirous of doing some substantial 
service to the cause ; but, as far as the little experience T have had is 
concerned, I must say, that they have a way of carrying on their affairs, 
in our part of the country, at least, that I do not particularly admire. I 
did not particularly delight in seeing the Anti-Slavery party, four or five 
years ago, putting Martin Van Buren at the head of their movement; 
and it did not afiord me much gratification to see n)en who used to re- 
spond "Amen" to Stephen S. Foster, when he described Mr. Van 
Buren as the "slimiest reptile that ever crawled across a continent," 
falling into the rear of his trail, and following after him ; or to see, in my 
own State, and in some other Slates, those gentlemen, for the sake of 
cfTccting some local purpose, unite with men who swear by Franklin 
Pierce, and who are morally committed — if not directly, and probably 
most of them directly and expressly committed — to stand upon and 
uphold the Baltimore platform. I do not think that is a very agreeable, 
or a very respectable, or a very desirable mode of exerting one's 
influence ; and I think, even if they could carry every thing they desire, 
it would not amount to much. It is sometimes said of us, Mr. President, 
that we arc doing nothing; and people marvel how it is that we go on 
from year to year without producing some effect ■= — without electing some 
man to the General Assembly or General Court, or, by possibility, 
a Representative to Congress. Well, sir, it seems to me that we are 
doing about as much as the Free Soil party have been doing ; for, as 
far as I can see, they have elected very few persons, and I really do not 
think that many of those gentlemen whom they have sent to Congress 
have crowned their work in such a manner as to make it very admi- 
rable to the eye and heart of the Abolitionist, — meaning no sort of dis- 
respect to those gentlemen, who, I dare say, do the best they know how. 
Now, sir, I think that we, the Abolitionists of the American Society, 
stand precisely in the position where men, who wish to do something, 
would desire to stand. We stand in a position in which it is impossible 
for any human being in the country to attribute to us any self-seeking ; 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 101 

it cannot be possible for any man in his senses to do so. Men may call 
us insane, they may think us visionary and ridiculous, but no man can 
think that men who refuse to take office themselves, and who refuse to 
vote for other men to hold office as their deputies, on account of the pro- 
slavery clauses of the Constitution, which they will not support, are 
actuated by any selfish motives. If there are any men in the coun- 
try who can really receive the respect of all parties, slaveholders 
included, — and who, I believe, do receive the respect of all parties, 
slaveholders included, — they are these Abolitionists, because we stand 
in an unmistakably unselfish and disinterested position. We stand in a 
position in which the words we utter cannot be supposed to be intended 
to make political capital either for ourselves or any body else. We are 
the true preachers of the Anti-Slavery gospel — the Apostles who are 
sent forth to reform the world — and we are taking precisely the methods 
the Apostles did, by depending on the " foolishness of preaching" ; by 
applying the truth of God to the hearts of men, and thereby preparing 
for that change which is hereafter to come, and which will be done 
through the means of political action, which will be done by our ser- 
vants, by the men whom we are making and multiplying; and when we 
have prepared them, when the people are ready to act, then the whole 
matter will be easily enough done. There is not the slightest difficulty 
in any nation doing what it has a mind to, when it knows what its mind 
is. The institutions of Slavery are but the dark shadow which the heart 
of the American people projects ; as soon as the heart is changed, the 
shadow will be changed. All institutions exist originally, as I said last 
night, in the minds and hearts of men. Not only the " kingdom of 
God," but the kingdoms of this world, " are within us." It is because 
the American people choose to have Slavery, it is because the mass of 
the American people, at the North as well as at the South, wish to have 
it so, choose to have it so, — it is because, although, on the whole, they 
think that Slavery is a bad thing, yet still, they believe that the removal 
of it would produce inconvenience and depress their financial afl^airs and 
their business arrangements, which would more than counterbalance the 
advantages of the Abolition of Slavery, and, therefore, they are willing 
to bequeath it to another generation, believing, with Louis the Fifteenth, 
of France, that " things will last their time, and the next generation 
must take care of itself," — it is for this reason, that Slavery now exists 
in this land. But as soon as the heart of the American people is 
changed, and they are as resolute to remove as they now are to main- 
tain it, how long do you suppose Slavery will last ? We are getting the 



202 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

mind of the people into that state. It seems to me that it is the most 
sensible and the most practical proceeding that any man can undertake, 
and I earnestly invite and entreat those who have not joined us, those 
who have not signed the articles of our warfare, to come up and help 
us • and be assurred, it is the most sensible as well as the most pleasant 
course. You know that we Abolitionists are notorious throughout the 
country for our self-satisfaction ; but the country does not know the rea- 
son we have for it. (Applause.) If they will come and join us, they will 
know why we are thus self-satisfied. We are exceedingly well-pleased 
with our position ; — not with what we do, for we think we do not do 
half enough ; we do not come up to our ideas ; we do not work as hard 
as we should ; we do not make as many sacrifices as we should ; — but 
we are perfectly satisfied that we are right ; that we stand exactly in the 
rif^ht position ; that our faces are Zion ward, and that we are proceeding 
in the straight way, which God himself has established, and we enjoy 
that happiness which comes from the consciousness of ultimate triumph. 
We are certain of success. We know that we cannot but succeed, 
because the cause in which we are enlisted is the cause of God himself. 
We may fail ; we may fall in the conflict ; we may go down to our 
graves without witnessing the consummation of our hopes ; but we know 
that success will ultimately crown the contest, because we know that 
God sits on the throne of the universe, because we know that his laws 
must ultimately prevail, and though men set their faces against them, we 
know that he is stronger than they ; and although President Pierce may 
resolve that Abolitionism shall be " crushed out," and although Mr. 
W^ebster, and Mr. Clay, and Mr. Cass declare that Anti-Slavery agita- 
tion shall cease and must cease, we know that " He that sitteth in the 
heavens shall laugh " at them, and that God " will have them in deri- 
sion." Why, sir, what are these men ? Are they Tiants ? are they 
giants, who war against Jehovah ? Are these the men who " pile Ossa 
upon Pelion," or "storm the battlements of heaven".? No, sir; they 
are poor little creatures, not six feet high, on the average, (great laugh- 
ter,) crawling about on this little world — this planet in the corner of the 
universe — and defying the Almighty ; declaring that they can repeal his 
laws ; that their laws are paramount to His, and when He establishes a 
law and they repeal it, why, it is of no effect, and it is the duty of all 
men to obey their laws and disobey God's laws ! This is precisely the 
doctrine of the " lower law," as you know. It is not only the doctrine 
of the politicians, but the doctrine of the priests, and of the chief High 
Priests, of every denomination, I believe, with one or two trivial e.xcep- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 103 

tions. All the larger sects, all the High Priests and Rulers of the Syn- 
agogues have exclaimed, with one voice, " Great are the Compromises ! 
They are to be obeyed, whether God is to be obeyed or not." 

Well, we do not believe this. We do not believe that President 
Pierce, or General Cass, or Mr. Webster, or Mr. Clay, or all the men 
that ever lived, or all the genius and all the talent and all the energy and 
all the force that ever existed on the earth, concentrated and brought into 
one point, can perpetuate Slavery for ever. It is just as impossible as 
to make a pyramid stand for ever upon its apex. The laws of moral 
gravitation must and will bring it down to the ground ; and it is only 
because it is supported by the bayonets of the North, and by the pulpits 
of the North, that that inverted pyramid stands as it docs at this day, 
crushing slaves beneath it, and casting its fearful shadow over the whole 
land, and paralyzing the hearts of the people. We do not believe it can 
stand for ever ; and we want to persuade the people to remove these 
bayonets and these pulpits, and leave it to the natural laws of moral 
gravitation, knowing that it will come thundering down, and that God in 
heaven will bless the fall, and that all mankind will rejoice in it. 

I therefore invite all those who have not yet joined the American 
Society, those who have not yet seen eye to eye with us, to examine the 
method which we propose, and which we have pursued, and of which 
we now see the fruits all over this country. Small as was the seed, few 
as have been the sowers, we see h springing up all over the country — 
in the slave States as well as in the free ; and we know, that as surely 
as God liveth, as surely as God keepeth Ilis word, so surely will Slavery 
come to an end ; and we thank God that, in his Providence and in his 
goodness, he has permitted us to be his humble and unworthy instru- 
ments in this blessed work. (Loud cheers.) 

William Thorne, of Lancaster county, discussed the moral teach- 
ings of the pulpit, and went into a defence of the Free Soil party, as a 
party which had conferred great benefits on the country. 

George Sunter, Jr., of England, said that, in his opinion, the discus- 
sion upon the comparative merits or demerits of our slaveholding and 
the English Aristocratic institutions was an idle discussion. Tliere was 
one matter, growing out of that discussion, which needed to be insisted 
upon, namely, the essential oneness of the spirit of oppression, in all its 
manifestations. The spirit of selfishness was one every where. The 
violation of the Golden Rule, which led people in his country to oppress 
one another, rulers to oppress subjects, and workingmcn to oppress those 



104 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

who were a stage below them, was just the same in character, and they 
might be as guilty, under those particular circumstances, as when it was 
manifested by the slaveholder himself. He wished to impress upon his 
own conscience, and upon all those on whom he had any influence, that 
if they were living in perfect obedience to their own highest convictions 
of right, they were doing their part towards putting an end to all the 
wrongs in the world ; and just so far as they deviated from that convic- 
tion, they were countenancing and upholding every form of oppression. 
The reason why people were so concerned about the authority of the 
Bible, the institution of the Sabbath, with the organization of churches, 
with the sacredness of the ministerial profession, about the holiness of 
houses, and so on, was because they resorted to them as substitutes for 
this living obedience to the law of God. The Anti-Slavery man, he 
believed, was hostile to every form of oppression. Woman's Rights, 
the question of the Sabbath, and all other questions tending to the wel- 
fare of the race, were Anti-Slavery questions. It was essential to spir- 
itual life, that they should have no law but the natural law. 

Wendell Phillips, Esq., came forward, and said: — 

SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

Mr. President : 

The remarks of the friend who has just taken his seat, whose 
cooperation with us in England in years past has been so efficient, and 
whose outspoken fidelity in this country has been so marked as to 
deserve a most emphatic expression of our gratitude, seemed to me to 
evince a misapprehension in regard to the nature of the Anti-Slavery 
organization. It is quite true, as he .said, that the Anti-Slavery spirit 
permeates all these kindred movements with which the country abounds. 
It is true, also, that, as Despotism is a brotherhood, a blow on the chains 
of the Carolinas is felt in Hungary and in the dungeons of Austria. I 
remember a man's refusing to go to a meeting held some years ago in 
Boston, to ask for the abolition of the use of the lash in the navy, 
because, he said, " he should be sure to see Jackson and Garrison 
there." (Laughter.) It is true, that the spirit of Liberty is one, the 
world over ; but it is not therefore necessarily true, that on the Anti-Sla- 
very platform, in an organization arranged for a single purpose, we can 
honestly cover all these grounds, or allow the Woman question or the 
Bible question to be formally discussed. Our spirit, like heat, permeates 
every thing ; but wc lock up heat, sometimes, in the locomotive, in order 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 105 

to move the train, and aTterward let the heat go and distribute itself 
where it will. As the steam engine in a factory, in one story moves the 
machinery, in another warms the rooms, in another, turns a lathe, so 
here, one spirit permeates all these movements ; but while in one room, 
we confine it to one purpose. Thus we may gather all creeds and 
opinions to an united effort against Slavery. We would avoid the bigo- 
try which contrives, by arbitrary laws, to narrow down the platform — 
as one of your own fellow-citizens said he would not support John P. 
Hale, unless he would come into their prayer-meeting. We would open 
the Anti-Slavery platform to all individuals, no matter what be their sen- 
timents on other topics and in other places, receiving them as Abolition- 
ists, and inquiring no further. Whether, in the next story, or the next 
apartment, they dispute the Bible or reject Christianity, favor Woman's 
Rights or the contrary, is no business of ours. Sufficient, for the pres- 
ent, that they work with us, like faithful Abolitionists; and we will assure 
them of this, that while they are with us, they shall not have their opin- 
ions on other topics unnecessarily interfered with. 

One of the most valuable lessons that the Anti-Slavery cause has ever 
taught us is this deep, fundamental lesson, not of mutual toleration, 
that is a bad word, but of mutual rights. Who asks why we " tole- 
rate," as men say, the disbeliever in the Bible on this platform ? He 
has as much right here as I have. The Hindoo, the Mohammedan, the 
Infidel, or the Atheist, who will help me lift the chain from the slave, or 
who will give me the aid of his intellect and his kindness of heart to 
reeducate these twenty millions of people on this matter of Slavery, has 
as much right here as I have. I hope he will tolerate me ; and it is a 
great deal more evidence of candor that he should tolerate me, compro- 
mised as I am by being called a Christian, when these thirty thousand 
professedly Christian pulpits are arrayed against the slave, than for me 
to tolerate him ; for I have got to explain away these thirty thousand 
pulpits, before I can claim Christianity as an Anti-Slavery gospel. Alas! 
Infidelity, with all its errors, has no such blot to remove from its escut- 
cheon. The toleration is all on the other side. (Cheers.) 

In my remarks this afternoon, I was speaking of the evidence of good 
policy derived from success. When I first came into the Anti-Slavery 
cause, seventeen years ago, I remember that the first person with whom 
I went out to hold an Anti-Slavery Convention was Amos Dresser. Ho 
was fresh from Nashville ; fresh from that public square where a City 
Committee, (among whose members was one man who, the Sunday 
before, handed him the communion bread and wine,) had undertaken 
to whip him, for the offence of having Anti-Slavery tracts in his trunk; 



106 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

and when the Ohio press, in the month following, indignantly demanded 
why Amos Dresser was not punished according to law, instead of 
that jnobocralic and Judge Lynch manner, the reply of the Tennessee 
press was, " he had not ofTended any law, and we had to punish him in 
that manner or none." Tiiat was public opinion in the border slave 
States seventeen years ago. The last Anti-Slavery news to-day is, that 
into that very community, Lucretia ]\Iott and Lucy Stone have gone 
to preach Anti-Slavery and Woman's Rights, and have been received with 
an enthusiastic welcome that has not been able to find epithets enough 
to express its admiration. Surely, the world moves ! 

One other fact occurs to me, which I will mention, John Quincy 
Adams is reported to have said, that when he first commenced his Anti- 
Slavery course in Congress, he should have had no hesitation in aiding 
in the return of a fugitive slave ; that he would just as soon have helped 
in the recovery of a fugitive slave, as of any other article of acknowledged 
property. This was John Quincy Adams, fourteen years ago! How 
popular opinion had warped the best minds of America, and uncon- 
sciously levelled them down to the most corrupt and degraded state of 
indifference and darkness on a question like this! Certainly, if we have 
done nothing else, we have done this: we have roused men to think, 
and make up deliberate opinions, not merely float idly with the current; 
and no man of Mr, AdanriS''s position, humane sentiments, and love of 
Liberty, can ever be left in such a state of mind in regard to the slave 
system, as he stood in fourteen years ago. (Cheers.) 

Let ine instance another fact ; for it is good, on an Anniversary like 
this, to sum up all these things, — to take account of stock, as it were, 
and see where we are. Only think of the success of young John Jay 
in the Episcopal Church! — one of the very best tests that could be 
taken of the state of public opinion, since that Church is so Aristocratic 
in its character as to be far removed from popular control or influence. 
In its liigh, cold latitude, above the beating hearts of the American peo- 
ple, out of the reach of any popular movement, silent, in icy dignity, 
there it sits ! Mr. Jay, year after year, moved that body to admit col- 
ored priests on an equal footing with white. Year after year, they de- 
nied his motion ; and, further than this, with a sagacity which they 
might almost have borrowed from their brothers of Rome, — wiser in 
this respect, than the ecclesiastical despotism of the vulgar sects, — the 
moment they had passed the vote, they added another, (cunning crea- 
tures!) to erase the whole record from their register! They did not 
mean to go down to posterity with that ugly black line against them. 
Tiiey were wiser than our Congressional men, who leave votes to stare 



AMERICAN ANTI'SLAVERY SOCIETY. 107 

them in the face, instead of expunging the rcconl, so that tlicy need not 
swallow their own words, but have u fresh trial every day. (Laughter.) 
Thus, having put Mr. Jay down, and " cleaned ofT" the record, they went 
on, year after year, voting him down ; but, this year, Mr. Jay has got 
the vote in his favor. By his "continual coming," he has wearied them 
into decency, and they admit colored priests into their Convention — that 
cold. Aristocratic, isolated Church ! Our Church is the Siamese twin to 
our Politics, (laughter,) and the ligament of mutual dependence is never 
broken. No warm popular American blood circulates through the stat- 
uesque Episcopal Church, and, therefore, this fact is the more remarka- 
ble and significant. That must be a hot day indeed, that molls the gla- 
ciers on the side of Mt. Blanc. 

If there be any other religious institution which shows the effect of 
this change in the public sentiment with peculiar force, it is the Ameri- 
can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Even tl'.cy have 
been obliged — even they, the only truly Aristocratic Board in this coun- 
try, for they exist for life, and choose their own successors, and are thus 
utterly removed from popular influence, and able, more than any thing 
else in the country, to defy it — even ihey, at their last meeting, were 
obliged to lake a sort of Anti-Slavery course, or, at any rate, to smoiher 
down, by a direct vote, the Anti-Slavery discussion ; showing that they, 
too, have been reached, in their high and isolated position, by this change 
in public sentiment going on around them. 

All these things are to us, who watch the times, the most encoiu'aging 
evidence that our principles have permeated the shallow as well as the 
deep waters of society ; penetrating all the bays and inlets of the great 
ocean. They have not merely been seen in the great fuci, the great 
centres of intellectual, life, but our light boats have gone up into all the 
quiet haunts, and still waters, the highways and byways of American 
thought, and caught the attention of the peo[)le, before whom every 
thing, in the last resort, must bow. (Applause.) It seems to me that 
these things show that we have a right to be encouraged in the use of 
the very means by which so great an effect has been already produced. 
Let me tell you what I mean. An Abolitionist recognises this change in 
the swallowing up of all questions before this one great question of Sla- 
very. One of our public men, Mr. Todd, came home to Ohio lately, 
after an absence of five years on a foreign mission, and addressed an 
audience there on a political question, after he had been a month or so 
in Ohio. He gave them an old-fashioned Tariff talk ; and the people 
opened their eyes in amazement. A friend, who was asked what he 
thought of the speech, said it reminded him of the story in Swift, of the 



108 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 



ma 

C 



an who was suddenly interrupted in conversation by his friend being 
ailed abruptly away, and who, meeting him twenty years afterwards, 
bef^an his story just where the interruption broke him off! (Laughter.) 
So in the case of Mr. Todd, his audience were just five years ahead of 
him, and stared in amazement at the political Rip Van Winkle. 

Some men have asked us, in times gone by, why it was necessary 
to be so radical on a question like this ; why we needed to talk about 
overthrowing the Church and dividing the State ; why Disunion and 
Anti-Church measures were necessary. I said something this afternoon 
on this subject, especially on the religious aspect of our organization. 

On this topic, I was observing, when I broke off, that we do not 
ask you to-day to accept a single new principle, either in civil or 
religious truth. They are all as old as Christianity itself; and could 
we divorce this element of color from our cause, it would triumph 
in a moment. If Calhoun placed his hand on the black babe born on 
his plantation and called it his, but few considered what a monstrous and 
blasphemous act it was ; but let some one seize the cradled babe of the 
Green Mountains, how soon would those rock-ribbed hills tear them- 
selves from their foundations and pour down on the Carolinas, to snatch 
those blue eyes from degradation ! Remember, that the God who gave 
us our blue eyes and sunny locks, made the black babe also, though he 
did not give the privileges and blessings which now we Saxons share. 
As I said, we take these principles and carry them up and down the 
streets of America, and we must expect to be crucified, as all the Na- 
thans have been who have undertaken to apply principles to the Davids 
that sit in high places. The principles are old ; it is the application that 
makes martyrs of those who attempt it. It seems to be inevitable, with 
our poor human nature, that every new application of an old truth to a 
rampnnt sin shall necessitate the formation of a new sect. Some critics 
say, no man ever wrote but one really great book. So, no sect ever 
seems able to embody more than one great idea. That done, its work 
is finished, and it begins to die. When a new application of the princi- 
ple is to be battled for, there is always a swarm goes out from the old 
hive. When the Protestant church grew rich and prosperous, the Puri- 
tans came out of it, holding each church perfect and independent ; and 
when Puritanism got planted here in Massachusetts Bay, Roger Wil- 
liams, with his doctrine of unlimited toleration, was too radical for it. 
Winthrop shook him out of his lap; and when the Quaker came, with his 
idea of individual independence, — another stride ahead, — the Com- 
monwealth hung one on the Common and banished the rest. The Qua- 
ker grew rich, easy in life, and conservative, and then the Unitarian set 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 109 

up the standard of individual thought, and he, too, came out from the 
sects. The whole history of religious thought is come out — and come 
out; a constant coming out, — and that is the only method of growth 
which seems possible for human nature. It is a beautiful, it is a glorious 
characteristic of our movement, which joins us to the best and the 
noblest of the race, in all ages. But how hard for one man to stem the 
current of his age ! Some are timid, and think if you sweep away the 
cobwebs, you endanger the building. Others had rather sit in the pew 
where their mothers sat, than go where an enlightened conscience would 
lead them. Some men, as Jerrold says, will not look at the new moon, 
out of respect for that ancient institution, the old one. 

Let us pray for fanatics to break up and criticise; — it is only by 
breaking away from the past that the race makes any progress. Many 
men dread reform — its excesses, its headlong course. It seems to me 
such men forget the nature of the human mind. God has wisely pro- 
vided that changes shall be slow in man's condition, as well as in nature ; 
and to this end, he has bedded the feelings of the present so deeply in 
the habits of the past, as to make any sudden and violent innovation 
impossible. Such rarely occur — when they do, they are but spasms 
and temporary. " Men are all Tories by nature," says Arnold, •' when 
tolerably well off; only monstrous injustice and atrocious cruelty can 
rouse them." Some talk of the rashness of the uneducated classes. 
Alas ! ignorance is far oftener obstinate than rash. Against one French 
Revolution — that scarecrow of the ages — weigh Asia, "carved in 
stone," and a thousand years of Europe, with her half dozen nations 
meied out and trodden down, to be the dull and contented footstools of 
priests and kings. The customs of a thousand years ago are the sheet- 
anchor of the passing generation, so deeply buried, so fixed, that the 
most violent efforts of the maddest fanatic can drag it but a hand's 
breadth. It is a wise provision of Providence, that he who attempts to 
replace the good with what he thinks better, or to reform the usual be- 
cause he thinks it bad, shall find opposed to him not only received opin- 
ions, but the iron chains of old custom ; and hard as it is to make public 
opinion run in a new channel, it is a more herculean task still, to break 
up the crystalization of a man's habits. Yet tbe latter is often the more 
important of the two, since the majority act more from habit than prin- 
ciple. This beneficial principle of our nature becomes a curse, when 
men add strength to this almost omnipotence of the past by artificial bar- 
riers, and frown down the spirit of improvement, perpetuating institu- 
tions, good perhaps at some former time, but which a change of circum- 
stances renders a curse. 



no TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

In this light, what a blessing is death ! God takes us away when we 
grow old and rigid, and when the mind is no longer capable or apt for 
receiving new ideas. Death takes us gently off, that the new bark and 
the new tree may have room to spread, and that the youthful intellect 
may not be cowed and quail for ever before one who boasts the experi- 
ence of a thousand years. Who would dare to differ from a man who 
spoke with the experience of a thousand years? In his presence, all 
later intellects must be always children. What a blessing, then, is death! 
Why should men be afraid of this Anti-Slavery movement, that seeks 
to inaugurate a new idea? The Churches — why should they ? They 
have answered the end for which men gathered them ; they met the 
issues of the eighteenth century, and did its work. We only ask them 
now to do ours. As there is a place for each newborn man, at Nature's 
great table, so there is room for each new idea to incorporate itself into 
institutions. Barons' Castles moulder on the height, while workshops and 
moderate dwellings cover the whole slope below. The dreamy grandeur 
of the old cathedral is half deserted, and the listless convent is empty, 
while earnest men strive to get justice done in the market place, and are 
running to and fro over the whole earth to turn men's eyes from the dust 
below them to God. So with us. God calls this age here to grapple 
with the great social problem of Slavery. The Missionary Society, giving 
away the Bible and printing Tracts, the crosses of years gone by, are 
respectable work now. The mass of Society, now-a-days, recognise the 
duty and worth of all these, as much as of Alms-giving and Sunday 
Schools — cheap soup and the primer. For the Church remains a higher 
and harder work. Standing in the van, her prophetic eye should be the 

first to descry suffering, even though the cloud be no bigger than a man's 
hand ; her heart, touched with liveliest sympathy, is to be poured out 

Jirst in its behalf; hers is to be that wisdom, the child of goodness, which 
isftrst to devise the remedy. This Church, our movement claims, in its 
part, to be. Why should the old church find fault with us? As well 
might the dead timber which men have fashioned for use, quarrel with 
the living tree. Look at these beams and rafters, these girders and 
king-posts. They stood once fresh and green in the forest. Men cut 
them down and fashioned them for this stately hall. It has served its 
purpose, "lou have here worshipped God, held peaceable communion, 
and been sheltered from the storm. Suppose, now, all these lintels, " the 
beam out of the timber," should cry to the pines on the mountain side, 
" Grow no more — no more halls shall be built — no more churches will 
be needed — stop growing!" And the i)ines would answer back — "God 
moves in my veins, also, and 1 grow for the future ; work you well for 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. Ill 

the present, and I, too, will do man service in the coming time!" So 
the Abolitionist says to the girders and king-posts and rafters of the 
American Church — "You did well, forty years ago. You inaugurated 
the Missionary enterprise, the Tract enterprise. God speed them ! 
They were the self-sacrificing, disinterested efforts of religious men, up 
to the level of the responsibilities of their day. But, lo ! the place is too 
small. The lists are needed for a new battle — new work lies before 
me. I, too, grow for the future, with the direct influences of God in my 
bosom ; and because you have been hewn into rafters and served man, 
is no reason why I should not grow and serve him for the future." The 
New York Ei-angeUst said, some years ago, that " Philanthropy had 
fallen into the hands of Infidelity." What a Christianity is that! — a 
Christianity that leaves any thing good to be done by Infidels ! I believe 
in a Christianity that covers the platform of Humanity so entirely that 
halting Infidelity can not get on it — there is no room for him. (Loud 
cheers.) When you see a man go down to the Five Points, or take up 
the cross of the Anti-Slavery or Temperance Reformation, no matter 
what his creed is, God touched his heart before he went out. I will 
never believe the opposite, until I can believe that " every good and per- 
fect gift " does not " come down from the Father of lights," but rises 
sometimes from somewhere else. 

I did intend to speak of the evidence which this view of our Anti- 
Slavery duty receives from the success which has attended it ; for 
the very best proof that our radical measures were necessary and right, is 
that they have succeeded. We are not the first Anti-Slavery movement 
that has ever been attempted in this country. Nay, I hardly exaggerate 
when I say, there has never been a time in our history when there has 
not been the nucleus of an Anti-Slavery movement in the United States — 
an Anti-Slavery sentiment more or less powerful among the people. 
Go back even to the earliest stage in the history of our country, and you 
find the struggling evidence of an Anti-Slavery feeling. You find it in 
the life of Benjamin Lay ; you find it in your own city, in that noble 
Quaker, John Woolman ; you find it in the North Carolina Quakers, the 
history of whose ill-fated slaves ought to be written ; you find it, previous 
to the Constitution, in the discussions which may be found in the Maga- 
zines of that period ; you find it in the Constitutional Convention itself; 
you find it in the debates when Louisiana was admitted, and when the 
father of our friend Quincy represented so eloquently and ably the 
Anti-Slavery instinct of New England ; in the question of the acquisition 
of Florida. You see it again in the war of 1812; in the meeting of the 
Hartford Convention; in the struggles of the Federal party to free them- 



J 12 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

selves from the incumbrance. I have a copy of a pamphlet, probably 
by George Cabot, and every one of the arguments, and all the statis- 
tics, which the Anti-Slavery speakers put forth to-day on the political 
aspects of the question, were debated in it. They did not appeal igno- 
rantly. They knew well the gigantic foe that lay coiled up in the 
United Slates Conslitution, and which poisoned and finally killed the 
honestcst party that ever appeared in American politics. You see it 
again in the Missouri Compromise of 1821, and all along the Tariff 
debates. The reason why the Anti-Slavery movement is different is, 
that it has undertaken to forget interest and remember only justice : under- 
taken to say that the Anti-Slavery question ought to be settled, no matter 
whether it jeopardize the safety and prosperity of the white race or not. 
Mr. Garrison succeeded better than those who went before him, because 
he undertook to look at the slave question as the negro looked at it. 
Clarkson, Wilberforce, Lushington and Buxton looked at the slave 
question for thirty years as the white man looks at it. They piled Blue 
Books mountain high to show that Bristol and Liverpool would not suffer 
in trade, that sugar would be as cheap, that rum would be as plenty, 
after emancipation as before. They proved that the white man could 
afford to be just; and the nation plodded on, in the wearisome task of 
satisfying the white race of the islands that God understood his own 
creation when he made it, and that man could be trusted with himself. 
Now, the only reason why the Anti-Slavery movement of the present 
day has succeeded better is, that it brushed aside all these Blue Books^ 
and undertook to look at the question as the colored man would look at 
it, and say, "T have a right to be free. Whether there will be this 
benefit or the other, I know not ; but, benefit or ruin, I have a right to 
be free, notwithstanding." No race has a right to prosperity built on 
the sacrifice of another race ! This is the stand-point of the Anti- 
Slavery argument, and it touched the deeper consciousness and afl^ec- 
tions of the American heart, and brought the change you see before you, 
I have often heard the friend who sits here (Mr. Garrison) say that 
when Sir T. F. Buxton received him at his own door, he exclaimed — 
" JNIr. Garrison ! why, I thought you were black." (Laughter.) It was 
the highest compliment that could have been paid him ; for Fowell 
Buxton knew him only from his " Liberator," and could not believe 
that any white American could so thoroughly identify himself with the 
colored man as to be able to look at this question from the stand-point 
of the negro, and he inferred his color from his logic. (Applause.) 
It was a touching and well-earned compliment, and beneath it lies the 
secret of his success. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEEY SOCIETY. 113 

Let me now say a word distinctly in regard to the disunion of the 
States, — the favorite doctrine of the Society with which tliis meeting is 
identified. 

We are often asked, Why not trust this matter to the Constitution, to 
parties, sects, and the press, in the hope they will create a public senti- 
ment sufficient for the work ? Because like causes produce like effects. 
While the sources of National character remain the same, that character 
will be the same. With such experience in the past, whence shall we 
expect an Anti-Slavery nation ? We must go deeper, and change the 
actual sources of American character. What has produced this pres- 
ent nation, Church and State .' What has educated it ? Is there any 
doubt what it is ? Can there ever be any doubt what the American 
Church is ? No ; she bears her character on her face, always. Her 
voice, when she speaks, is heard over the nation ; her step, when she 
moves, shakes the continent. She is a great whole — one and indivisible. 
Her voice moulds the literature, the education, every thing in the coun- 
try ; and it is unmistakable to any body who, whhout prejudice, looks 
over these United States, and sees a people, full of hateful preju- 
dice against color here at the North, and, throughout the South and 
North, ready, by the use of the most unscrupulous means, to sustain 
the system of Slavery, that, no matter what individual exceptions there 
may be, the great result is, an American pro-slavery nation. In all its 
life, it is pro-slavery ; — its very life-blood is pro-slavery. 

What could have passed the Fugitive Slave Law ? What could have 
tempted such a man as Webster to make that last fatal' — and even that 
was unsuccessful — step of his, if there had not been a public sentiment 
so strong and potent that he might reasonably hope that it would accept 
the sacrifice, and bear him into office > With regard to the Fugitive 
Slave Law, the pro-slavery sects (to whom Mr. Quincy alluded) and the 
clergy generally, in the first rank, with few exceptions, were longing to 
endorse that law. Mark you this ! The great sects, the leading theo- 
logical newspapers, the leading divines in the powerful sects in the coun- 
try, were all for the law. It was the smaller sects, it was, as a general 
thing, the lesser men, in present estimation, who opposed that infamous 
enactment ; the men by whose names we have a right to read the nation, 
were pro-slavery. 

So it is in regard to the civil power. State and National. What are 
President Pierce and his cabinet engaged in at the present moment ? In 
the effort to smother down the Anti-Slavery tendencies of the Demo- 
cratic party. The leading political influences of the nation are pro- 
slavery. Perhaps I need not dwell upon it, in an audience like this. 



114 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Our aro-ument is simply tliis : What has been, will be, the circumstances 
beinfT the same. The circumstances of the last seventy years, the 
religion and the politics, have educated this nation. God gives twenty 
millions of people into the hands of those thirty thousand pulpits, these 
educational and political influences, and says, '• Educate for me this 
people." They educate it, and have produced, in the face of day, a 
nation which absolutely sets Europe aghast by the enactment of a statute 
such as no throne in Europe would have dared to insult public opinion 
with. It seems to me that the AboUtionists of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society are philosophical in saying that we had as good men, 
as far as politics are concerned, at the time of the formation of the govern- 
ment, as we can expect to have. We had the Hamiltons, the Edwardses, 
the Jays, the Rutledges, the Wythes, the Leighs, and Chief Justice 
Marshall, and Randolph, and Henry. We had Gouverneur Morris, — 
let his name never be forgotten, when men talk of the public senti- 
ment of the old time, — who, when they told him, in the Constitutional 
Convention, that Georgia and Carolina would not come into the Union, 
without the Compromises, answered in these memorable monosyllables, 
" Let them stay out, then ! " If there had been such a spirit in the North, 
we should have seen the Compromises rejected, we should have seen 
these States kept out on probation, and seen them come humbly into the 
Union, as Rhode Island did, when they found they could not stay out 
any longer, and join it on our terms, instead of our joining it on theirs. 
But still, we started with as good influences, as far as men are concerned, 
as we can ever, expect to have — men full of enthusiasm for civil 
liberty. We started with just those institutions which we now have. 
We have no better statesmen, we have no tetter Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, we have no better literature, we have no better Constitution 
now, than at that time. And there are those among us who say, " Let 
us take the same ship, the same crew, the same sailing orders, and expect 
to make a better voyage ; " — and we reply, " If you do, you will land 
in the same harbor — oti the coast of Guinea!'''' (Loud cheers.) We 
say, " We will not waste the experiment which our fathers tried at such 
expense. Fifty years' experience is enough for us, and we will not 
venture again to sea in the same ship, and under the same captain." 
It was the inherent depravity of our institutions, that sacrificed a Web- 
ster on the shrine of Slavery. He was as good a man as most others, 
and as strong; New England cannot expect to build up, under her 
polhical arrangements, much better men. God will not probably give 
us a mightier intellect for rhany years than his ; it was the maelstrom of 
political temptation with which you surrounded him, that engulphed this 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKY SOCIETY. 115 

loftiest intellect, as to civil affairs, of his time ; it was the conviction that 
to be Anti-Slavery was to commit political suicide, which changed him 
from what he was on the rock of Plymouth, to be the obedient vassal of the 
Slave Power. Yet you undertake to say, we will take these same 
men — made of the same human nature, no better, no worse — we will 
take them again, we will put them into the same oven, and hope that 
they will not come out the same dough as before ! (Applause.) 

It is unphilosophical to expect," that under the same course of circum- 
stances, we shall have a better pulpit or politics than we have had. The 
present debauched character of the nation is not the fault of the men, it 
is the fault of the institutions which formed their character. The power 
of a depraved public sentiment tempted our great men to their own ill. 
.Who shall say that the course of American history for the last fifty 
years will not be repeated, if we have the same political elements as 
before ? — the " three fifths basis" — a hundred and fifty thousand men 
wielding the influence of two thousand millions of dollars — a mercan- 
tile class, whose basis is cotton, and the press of the country the vassals 
of that class ; — who shall affirm this, with a press thus in vassalage to the 
mercanyle class, and a mercantile class thus bound to the chariot wheels 
of the capitalists of the country ; with a pulpit, in this country neces- 
sarily, from the nature of our religious organization, the reflection of 
that stronger power, the Money power — for, in a country like ours, the 
mercantile class must always sweep into its ranks the greatest energy, 
intellect and enterprise that the generation can furnish — while we 
remain a new country, with so much industrial prosperity about us, it is 
impossible, in the nature of things, that the mercantile class shall not 
attract to itself all the first mind and energy in the country, and it is 
necessarily the vassal of the capitalists. To the feudalism of the old 
world has succeeded the feudalism of gold, and the Southerner has the 
gold on his side. 

Now, in this view, we say, simply and singly, that we have nothing to 
fall back upon except the religious element, the religious spirit of the 
people. Let me illustrate once more the influence which the predom- 
inant sentiment of the country has exerted upon its literature. I will not 
take the newspaper press ; I will take literatui-e in its best form ; and I 
will look for a shining mark, one of the first men in the republic of 
letters. I will take Bancroft. When he sat down to write the history 
of the country — a work which has taken its place by the side of the 
best histories of any people — under the magnificent elms of North- 
ampton, a scholar, and nothing else — he finished his first volume, and 
we found in it a frank, able, natural, scholarly rebuke of the shortcom- 



116 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

ings of the country ; and wherever the slave question showed its head 
above the current of the history of the land, wherever he met it, he put 
his finger upon it, with a decided expression of New England senti- 
ment — frank, plain, good Anti-Slavery. Mirid you get the first edition ! 
(Laughter.) It is very hard to get, for there is not a copy to be sold ; 
and if you pick up the fourth edition, you will find that that chapter has 
been most ingeniously contracted. Every one of those Anti-Slavery 
sentiments has been erased ! Every one of those expressions of feel- 
ing has been filed down to mean nothing — to express nothing — to 
offend nobody ! He had passed from the noble elms beneath which 
Jonathan Edwards had walked, and had been into the dangerous atmos- 
phere of the cabinet at Washington, had walked St. James's as the 
Ambassador of the country ; he sat in the city of New York, and held 
loosely the reins of a great party, and lie had hopes — God grant they 
may be disappointed ! (Loud cheers.) In taking this high instance, I 
am saving the necessity of taking more. I give you the name of a 
man who might be expected, from his world-wide fame, from his posi- 
tion, from the nature of the occupation in which he was engaged, to 
have had a wider range of vision than merely as far South as Mason and 
Dixon's line. But even he failed to rise above the smoke of American life. 
It is proved, that in this bargain between God and Devil, the Devil 
gets the better, on all occasions. This compromise is all on one side. 
This temptation is always too strong, for the moment, for the virtue of 
our divines and our politicians. Too strong, I say, for the moment ; 
and that reminds me of another evidence of the strength of the Anti- 
Slavery cause. Dr. Dewey came from Washington to New England, 
and lectured through our towns, offering to give up his own mother into 
bondage to save the Union. We published it. We sent it to England. 
We published it here, again and again. Then Dr. Dewey quailed 
before the public sentiment which he had not understood, while he lived 
in Washington — he did not know, for instance, that the Unitarian Com- 
mittee, in the city of Boston, for supplying ministers to country par- 
ishes, had been reduced to say, when asked to send an old-fashioned 
divine, of the pro-slavery stamp, " We must either send you a fool or 
an Abolitionist." (Laughter and cheers.) What does he do? Like an 
honest man, does he take it back } No ; like an American, he wriggles 
out of it, (loud cheers,) by trying to make people believe he said " bro- 
ther," and not " mother." But even in the attempt to whine himself 
out of the dilemma, there was an unconscious tribute to the Anti-Slavery 
sentiment, on both sides of the water ; a confession that this had grown 
stronger than he was aware, and before it he was obliged to bow. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 117 

Some men are very much surprised that we cannot conduct this cause 
so as to secure the approbation of moderate men ; tliey are always quot- 
ing to us the example of Clarkson, Wilberforce, and the Englis-h Aboli- 
tionists, and ask us why we cannot tread in their steps. This is odd. 
It only shows that even my friend here (Mr. Garrison) has a chance of 
its being forgotten, forty years hence, that he has been a " fanatic." I 
have no doubt that the Reformers of that day will be taunted with the 
question — " Why don't you go to work in a moderate. Christian man- 
ner, as Garrison did? " (Laughter and cheers.) Why, Clarkson was so 
moderate in his day, that the merchants of Liverpool tried to push him into 
the dock, and William the Fourth called Wilberforce " a grey-headed 
fanatic." Now, we quote them for moderatio7i ! So we shall be quoted, 
on some future day ; but no man, in his own day, may ever expect to 
charm away a great public evil by soft words or ingenious methods. The 
men who are concerned in the evil understand you, and just so far as the 
slaveholders felt — not heard, but felt — that William Ellery Chan- 
NiNG, under his choice English, meant just what William Lloyd Gar- 
rison did, in his plainer Saxon, they hated the one as much as the other. 
As the magnet feels the presence of the needle, so they can feel the 
presence of a man, who, under a rude or honied speech, means to take 
the slave from the grasp of his oppressor. They feel the magnetic influ- 
ence of a true man, and, soften your tone as you may, you shall not 
escape hatred. (Applause.) "Prmc/t" has a story of an English Col- 
onel in India who won an elephant in a lottery — you recollect the story. 
His barn was too small to hold it ; he was afraid to shoot it ; it was 
against the law to turn it into the street ; and he was too kind-hearted a 
man to starve it. " Punch'''' concludes the story — " He was in the con- 
dition of a man of a small house, moderate fortune, common humanity, 
and an elephant." It is just so with this nation. It has got a sin on its 
back ; it cannot conceal it ; it is ashamed to confess it ; it is too lazy to 
attempt to cure it ; and it cries out with angry hatred against the Nathan 
who boldly sets its sin before its eyes. It is in the condition of a nation 
with common pride, some humanity, average conscience, and an ele- 
phant.'''' (Loud cheers and laughter.) Now, no man, able to make an 
effective charge upon that popular sin, can criticise such a nation, and 
yet, at the same time, during his own life, secure the popular cooperation 
and sympathy. The selfishness of the human heart is too deep-rooted to 
allow it. The very grapple and conflict, the ranging of side and side, 
the moral agitation, the war of ideas, prevent it. The honest combat- 
ants, on either side, must misunderstand and hate each other, and it is 
not until the smoke of the controversy clears away, in a subsequent gen- 



118 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

eration, that men recognise the sincerity of purpose, the love of country, 
and the spirit of benevolence, which animated the honest men on either 
side, — when the question admits of honesty on both sides. 

There is nothing singular, therefore, in our having provoked pop- 
ular indignation and the rebuke of high places ; in Mr. Garrison's 
being hated ; in the Abolitionists being generally odious. It is the ne- 
cessity of our position. We shall be odious as long as we live. We 
are the dead lumber, probably, that is to make up the road over which the 
popular Abolitionists of another generation shall walk. Yes, we are the 
rude and rugged pioneers, whose labor will render us too unsightly for the 
holiday gaze of the people; and by and by, when the road is built, when 
the sacrifice of our bodies has made it strong and hard enough, then you 
will see men in political pumps and silk stockings, who, with no sacrifice 
of their political station or popularity, will condescend to walk over 
the road we have built, and stereotype into Constitutions that Anti-Sla- 
very sentiment we have created. (Loud cheers.) All this odium and 
unpopularity is inevitable in a cause like ours; and our duty is to go on, 
and appeal, as before, to the'live heart of the people. - I value logic, butx 
the common people do not reason. I distrust this long array of argument. 
It is not always necessary to argue ; there is an instinctive logic which 
leaps over the long deductions of reason, and reaches its end at once. 
On many questions, the heart is the best logician. Yes, we have got to 
accomplish our work by making the people our jury, and appealing for 
the decisions of all public questions to thbse whose hearts are ordinarily 
larger and more active than their heads. We may rejoice or regret, 
but the fact remains, that the people feel more than they reason. Look 
at Webster and Clay, as illustrating this. Our great New' Englander 
stood his whole life long at Washington, and hammered out on his anvil 
of relentless logic his politics and his doctrines of the Constitution. He 
went on, industrious, faithful, persevering, adding link to link. Now 
and then he looked off over the nation ; but no one was watching him. 
He had lost his hold on the popular mind, and they left him there, 
working out on the anvil his chain of remorseless argument. While 
Clay, who never laid down a premise or drew a conclusion, did but 
spread out the broad arms of his warm, genial human nature, and almost 
the whole North and South melted into his great magnetic heart. (Loud 
cheers.) A great party, that never could be brought even to support, 
much less to love, the New England champion, were ready, at any time, 
to shut their eyes, and rush to certain destruction, if they might but 
write the name of Henry Clay upon their banner. (Applause.) It was 
the instinctive uprising of the popular heart, that answered back to a man 
that had a heart. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 119 

Now, the Anti-Slavery cause, whether it be very sagacious or not, I 
do not know; but this I do know, that, in tlie Providence of God, it has 
appealed to this same element. It would neither be turned aside by thfe 
airy sophistry of the politician ; no, nor by the legal trifling of the profes- 
sional man, nor the fine-spun theories of the Orthodox Churchman ; but 
it said — "I FEEL ! (enthusiastic cheering,) and this same heart that God 
has put into my bosom, is in the bosom of others; ichen my heart heats, 
that, too, shall beat ! " And see, it docs teat ; as the pendulum of 
Arago, hung at one end of a room, an4 left motionless, caught soon the 
motion of one vibrating at the other, and both, in a few hours, were 
found beating in unison together. (Loud cheers.) 

That is our philosophy. It is our trusting, confidential appeal to the 
masses, which has resulted in such a marvellous growth of Anti-Slavery 
sentiment in twenty years. Our fathers thought they had kept it down ; 
they thought they had compacted a Constitution so cunningly, so strong, 
that we could never get above it. It reminds one of the Eastern story 
of the prime minister of Solomon, Asaph, who was so honest and able 
that when he died, Solomon had him embalmed and placed hi his Treas- 
ury, dressed, and resting on his staff*. The thieves, ignorant of his death, 
stole from time to time to the Treasury, to see what their old master 
was doing; but, observing him always in a vigilant attitude, fled in fear. 
At last, it happened that some white ants (well knov/n in the East 
for their ravages) found their way into the Treasury, and, attacking 
Asaph's staff, he fell to the ground ; the thieves thus found out the 
trick, and, entering the Treasury, rifled it of its hoards. So with our 
Constitution. How long it stood a bugbear to honest men ! We thought 
it really had a support in the hearts and consciences of good men. But 
the white ants of tricky and broken Compromises, of Fugitive Slave 
Laws, vassal presses and rotten pulpits, have eaten this away, and it lies 
a log king. Who so poor to do it reverence .'' The Union needs so 
much " saving," that men begin to ask of a Constitution that requires 
so much doctoring, like Pope's coachman, whether it would not be easier 
" to make a new one .'' " 

The Anti-Slavery cause owes its success to Mr. Garrison's forget- 
ting he was white (cheers); to the fact, that he looked upon these great 
questions of Church and State as the negro looks at them. He did not 
fear for the walls of granite and marble, nor for the national prosperity 
with which the nation was drunk ; but he said to this, " Good ! and if all 
this can stand consistently with Justice, let it stand ! " But he was heathen 
enough, thank God ! to say also with Horace, the old Pagan, " Let Jus- 
tice be done," though even the American Union fall ! In that convic- 



120 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

tion, he went forth, and the people listened to the new voice, that under- 
took to go deeper than the old. Some men would have despaired in 
such a contest, forgetting, — what our friend Higginson has so happily 
reminded us, — that " a wise man is harder to conquer than a city." 
We walk about, and look up at these gigantic institutions, — at these 
wharves of granite, and at these lofty warehouses and this garnered wealth, 
the frowning buttresses of old institutions, and we feel very weak and little 
before them. So the poet sometimes, as he gazes at the mountains and 
walks beneath the stars, talks of the eternal stars, that never change, 
and thinks how little man is by the side of the everlasting hills ; but he 
forcets that this breath which has been breathed into our nostrils, is able 
to melt those mountains, and shall outlive the stars. (Cheers.) So with 
these iron institutions of which I speak. A child's conscience, a poor 
man's thought, the protest of one earnest heart, these are the only 
true forces. When these rise up against a government, it is left a heap 
of ruins, like the marble and gold of the old Temple where God's spirit 
said, " Let us go hence." (Loud applause.) 

This Anti-Slavery movement founded itself on justice, and a belief in 
the people ; for the people, in the end, are always right. One man will 
be selfish, one class will be selfish. One man will be tempted by one 
thing, one by another ; but each man is selfish for his own profit, and 
not for his neighbors ; and the selfishness of one class neutralizes the 
selfishness of another; and, in the end, 

" Ever the truth comes uppermost, 
And ever is justice done." 

Give a truth twenty years, and you may trust the people ; give it forty, 
and it is surer still. My proof of it is this : twenty million of independ- 
ent and powerful people said, " The Anti-Slavery cause shall not be 
heard ; " and a score of men and women stood up, and said only, " We 
will." They have stood there, like the solid square at Waterloo ; 
and it is strange how the rest of the world has come round to them. 
But it is only the common little birds that, when they try to fly, the 
others bluff' them aside and beat them down ; when the eagle spreads his 
wing, he mounts calmly upward, while meaner tribes make room for the 
sweep of his broad pinion. So it was, when one American undertook 
to say, " God and Justice are on my side ; my voice shall yet be heard 
above the roar of parties, and make, with God's blessing, the dry bones 
of these charnel-houses into living members of a true church." And 
this Twentieth Anniversary of the National Society, if it says nothing 
else to him to-day, will assure him, at least, that the people have heard 
his voice. (Loud applause.) 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 121 

Rev. William H. FuRxXess, of Plilludclphia, was next introduced to 
the audience, and spoke as follows: — 



SPEECH OF REV. WILLIAM U. FURNESS. 

Mr, President : 

I am most happy to be able to say a few words upon this platform, 
although I may be able only to bungle, and stutter, and stammer. But I 
conceive it vastly better to stammer in the cause of Liberty, tlian to 
make the smoothest speech that ever came from any advocate of oppres- 
sion. (Applause.) Besides, when I think — and 1 sometimes get an 
insight of the fact — what a mass of guilt and blood and horror Ameri- 
can Slavery is, I can do nothing but stammer ; and I wonder that our 
friends here, " fanatics" as they are, can keep so cool and calm, and 
that they should have produced and given to the world so many elabo- 
rate arguments about Slavery. But I stand up here this evening simply 
to express my gratitude, my satisfaction, — and I trust I express the feel- 
ing of >nany hearts here, — that this noble city of ours, which has been 
so polluted and disgraced by tlie atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law, 
shall, nevertheless, have it writ in her annals, and it shall be read by our 
children, that not only the Declaration of American Independence, but 
the grander Declaration of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was first 
made in Philadelphia. (Loud cheers.) 

I wish, also, while I think of it, to bear witness to the great kindness 
of this company of pioneers, who are represented as so rude and harsh. 
Mr. Phillips has said, in one of his speeches, that " no one, however 
feeble, has ever peeped or muttered, in any quarter, that the vigilant 
eye of the Abolitionist has not recognised him." I stand here a living 
evidence of the truth of that remark ; for they would sometimes make 
me believe — although I have done nothing, except now and then to 
take a long breath in the pulpit — they would make me believe I be- 
longed to them. (Laughter.) 

Mr. Emerson has said, speaking of the immense trade in pork in our 
Western country, that, in our political speeches and organizations, he 
could hear the " squeal of the pig." (Laughter.) Our Anti-Slavery 
friends, whose ears are sharp, have heard a more serious and melan- 
choly sound than that, even the wail of the slave, in all our political 
organizations, and have seen that the sweat of the slave was the oil by 
which they have been moved. But, since I have had the pleasure, with 
you, of listening to Mr. Phillips this evening, I think, from some remarks 
that he has made, that hereafter we shall begin to hear — we can almost 



122 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

hear it alrcadv — the voice of Anti-Slavery in every political movernent, 
jind in our whole social organization. Already we may hear the mut- 
tering and roaring of the coming of that ocean of Freedom, which shall 
sweep away the foul hlot from our land. (Loud cheers.) 

I wish to add to the tokens of success and progress which Mr. Phillips 
has furnished, another, with which you may be familiar, but which has 
struck my own mind with peculiar force. I took up, the other morning, 
a newspaper, and my eye rested upon an article headed, " Extracts 
from the Message of the Governor of Alabama, upon Slavery." I 
looked over it, of course expecting nothing else but denunciation of 
Abolitionists ; but his Excellency goes on to say, that it is allowable, 
although it is disreputable, to separate mothers from their babes, and 
husbands from their wives, and he recommends that the law shall be 
made absolute, that no child, under ten years of age, shall be separated 
from its mother, and that no husband shall be separated from his wife, 
under any circumstances. I think there is evidence of progress in this, 
especially as he goes on to say, thai it is now universally conceded 
that the colored people are reasonable beings, and that their moral feel- 
ings, although obtuse — they are not singular in that (laughter) — are 
susceptible of improvement. I think, taking this fact in connection with 
the good news of which Mr. Phillips told us in regard to Lucy Stone at 
Louisville, that we may look for some strong Anti-Slavery movement in 
the South, and that sagacious people at the North ought to keep their 
•eyes open, and be prepared, so that they may not be left altogether in 
ihe rear. (Applause.) 



SPEECH OF MRS. LUCRETIA MOTT. 

My Friends : 

I am so often heard in this city, you are all so familiar with my voice, 
that I would fain give place, as long as any of our friends from a dis- 
tance shall come forward to address you. I have had some most grati- 
fying reminiscences since the opening of this Convention. I have looked 
back to the time of the formation of the Society, to the time of the issue 
of the Declaration of Sentiments of the Convention then assembled, 
twenty years ago. That Declaration has been read here ; and I remem- 
ber, at the time it was written or engrossed, and hung up in some of our 
parlors, William Lloyd Oarrison came in, and, reading a part of it, 
exclaimed, " IIow will this sound some fifty or a hundred years hence — 
that such a truism as this, that every man has a right to himself, to his 
own body, to his own earnings, and that no man has a right to enslave 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 123 

or imbrute his brother, to hold him for one moment as a piece of prop- 
erly — that such truisms as these had to be declared in General Conven- 
tion, had to be promulgated before the people, and before an xinheliedng 
people, too?" I remember, at that time, when our friend Samuel J. 
May was with us, and his loved friend, William II. Fukness, through 
the influence of his affection for him, was willing to assemble with us 
in our private houses, but who, at that time, felt altogether unprepared to 
take any active or cooperative part in the movement ; and when some of 
us were desirous that his friend S. J. May should labor with liim on the 
subject, so that he might not give " sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his 
eyelids," until he became the advocate for the slave, until his " mouth 
was opened for the suiTering and the dumb," and he could " open his 
mouth and judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and 
needy," he was ready to laugh in his sleeve, and say, " You have mis- 
taken your man." (Laughter.) But it was not long after this that he 
published a book ; and when some one remarked to him, that it was 
hoped something would be found in his book in regard to American 
Slavery, he acknowledged that he should have been better satisfied had 
lie acted up to his own convictions upon that subject. Now, where do 
we find him } Identified with tlie worst of us (laughter) ; ready to come 
forth, and acknowledge liimself one of us. And not William II. Fur- 
NESs alone, but Henry Ward Beecher, and many other religious 
teachers of the land, are now the earnest advocates of the slave. 

We have heard the circumstance of John Quincy Adams's voice be- 
ing raised in behalf of the right of petition and freedom of speech 
adverted to, and we were fain to believe that God had especially raised 
him up for this purpose. But see how the John Quincy Adamses have 
increased in the last twenty years ! Why, their name is almost legion 
on the floor of Congress-! Congress has been nothing but an Anti- 
Slavery meeting for a long time, and we hope will become more so. 
The politicians are becoming the advocates of the rights of man, and 
their voices are heard over the nation. 

It is well, while we bring into view the fact of the great wickedness 
and enormous atrocity in the world, that we should also take a view of 
the growth of Anti-Slavery sentiment, so that we may be cheered, that 
we may thank God and take courage, and go on conquering and to con- 
quer, and not be at all weary in well-doing, but adhere to the great prin- 
ciples on which our movement was founded — the force, the potency, 
and the efiiciency of moral appeal ; that we may go on, in the confi- 
dence that the great heart of tlie people is right, and tliat it will respond 
to the truth, and that we may, with all hope of success, continue to 



124 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

nppeal, — not, as has l)ecn said, in the elaborate arguments that seemed 
ncccssarv' at tlie beginning, not by appointing evening after evening for 
the discussion of tlie subject upon Scripture ground, — but to the deep 
svnipathies of tlie popular heart. Why, I remember, in the beginning 
of this <ncat enterprise, twenty years ago, it was proposed to declare the 
simple fact, that the slaveholder is a vian-stenJer. We had not been 
much accustomed to call this evil by its right name, and we feared the 
hard words. We were accustomed enough to calling a sheep-stealer a 
sJiecp-stealer, but a man-sfeaJer — we did not like to apply such a term. 
But, after considerable discussion in the Convention, it was concluded, in 
order to modify the expression, and with a kind of tender courtesy to 
some of our Quaker friends, — who, I must say, although they had 
been accustomed to very plain language, were among the prominent 
ones to object to the word mo7i-stealer — the language was modified 
by prefixing, perhaps in parentheses, the words, " according to Scrip- 
ture," a man-stcale?', (laughter,) so as to cover it up under an appeal to 
the veneration of the people. Then the pro-slavery divines presented 
themselves, and took the ground that Slavery was sanctioned by Scrip- 
ture, and the Abolitionists came forward, and offered to discuss the ques- 
tion whether Slavery was or was not sanctioned by Scripture ; and a 
great deal of time was spent in arguments and discussions of this 
kind. I have been rejoiced, in later years, to hear some of our New 
England friends say — "We have done wasting our time with these 
elaborate arguments and researches into Scripture, to prove a self-evi- 
dent truth. It is enough for us now to affirm that Slavery is a sin ; 
that the slave has the right to his freedom, and that it is no less the duty 
of the slaveholder instantly and unconditionally to emancipate him." 
This is evidence of progress, that we are not going back to find authori- 
ties to support us in our efforts for the deliverance of the wronged ; that 
we are disposed to read the Bible with another pair of spectacles, 
through which, we may find in it cooperation with the right ; and in this 
way we have learned what are the means we should use ; that it should 
not be by these low arguments, by bringing the subject up in a manner 
agreeable to the authorities of the age, the religion of the age, the poli- 
tics of the age, or the social aspects of the time, but that we should stand 
sim|)ly and singly upon the inherent rights of man, on the self-evident 
truths that have been declared before the people, and which, being so 
self-evident, need no proof. We have advanced. We are willing now, 
in a great measure, to stand on the immutable principles of justice and 
right. Let us, then, not falter; let us go on. Plenty of Bible will 
be found in support of Freedom, as soon as it becomes a little more 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 125 

popular — just as it has been found in every scientific discovery, in 
every other advancement in morals. We need not fear. Plenty, too, 
of political truth will be found, and constitutional argument, if we "o 
on with our spiritual arguments and weapons, making our appeal to the 
conscience and heart of the people. There will he no need of trying to 

bring the Bible or the Constitution to our support ; for our enemies, 

those who are now the pro-slavery party of the country, — will bring 
those instrumentalities, — those which are now their gods, — to the side 
of Freedom. Let us, then, go on, and not cast away our confidence, 
which hath " great recompense of reward," if we will abide in the truth, 
and be satisfied that it is strong, and " mighty, through God, to the pull- 
ing down of the strongholds " of the iniquity of Slavery, and of wron" 
and oppression of every kind. 

I attended the great " Whole World's Temperance Convention," in 
the city of New York. There seemed to be, on the part of some in 
the Convention, great anxiety to have a " Maine Law" — to have legal 
support for the cause of Temperance. There seemed to be a betrayal 
of a lack of faith and of confidence in the moral power with which they 
set out. They began to ask. What have we done ? " Art thou he that 
shall come, or look we for another ? " They began to fear that they 
had not done enough by their moral suasion, and they called on " the 
powers that be " to come in to their aid. When I heard that noble man, 
John Pierpont — that man, who stood forward in the early days of the 
reform, at Ilollis Street Church, in Boston, and spoke forth such " words 
of truth and soberness" as made him seem a very " John the Baptist" 
in this cause, coming to preach " his baptism of water unto repent- 
ance," — when I heard him asking, "What has our moral power 
done ? " and declaring that we must have the aid of a " Elaine Law," 
in order to secure the Temperance movement, and to carry it forward, 
it seemed to me that it betrayed such a want of faith in that instrumen- 
tality with which he was sent forth, that I felt, v.hcn he was asking, 
" What has been done ? " as if he had said, "Art thou he that shall come, 
or look we for another.? " I thought he should be answered — " Go, tell 
the generation the things you have done ; how you have gone into the 
gutter, and taken from his degradation the poor drunkard, and raised him 
up from his vileness, and caused his limbs to be healed ; caused the poor 
lame inebriate to walk ; caused the blind to see ; and all in their degra- 
dation and their low estate — those who have been brought down to the 
chambers of death by their licentiousness and their wrong-doing — to be 
raised, their feet put upon the rock of Temperance, and the new song 
of Total Abstinence put into their mouths ! " When I looked back, and 



126 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

saw how much they had done hy their personal sacrifices, by the tender- 
ness with wliicli they had gone forth, and healed the sick and diseased^ I 
wanted to say — and I wisli I had said — " Blessed is he who shall not 
be offended in me." 

Various have been the means that have been adopted by us for the 
accomplishment of our object, in the hope that they would prove suc- 
cessful. I remember, in the beginning, that one of the first means that 
was proposed was weekly or monthly concerts of prayer. There was 
then great faith in that instrumentality. It had become a kind of organ- 
ization in the popular churches of the day, and we were very desirous 
to make our cause religiously popular. So, we were ready to introduce 
this as one of the means ; and I have no doubt that it was done in all 
honesty — in all good faith. But there were some engaged in the cause, 
who preferred the recommendation of Jesus, to "pray in secret," — to 
enter our closets and there pray, and when we came together, meet to 
work, as the effect of that prayer, to show that we were watching and 
working, and saying our prayers in secret. We went on in that way, 
until we saw other ways and means by which to act. All this was very 
well. The various means, proposed at different times, were very well. 
When one comes forth, and declares his sentiments and ideas of religious 
truth, and his faith in religion, and shows what that religion is, and what 
that faith in God is, then, if he does it as among the rightful means for 
the abolition of Slavery, let him be heard. And when friend Grew, or 
any other, as honestly comes forth, and holds up his view and his idea of 
the abolition of wrong, by dependence upon any atoning sacrifice, as 
well as upon labor, — when this shall be incidentally presented before 
the audience, let this, also, be accepted, and be patiently heard ; not in 
the spirit of mere toleration, but as the right that one and all have to 
propose the means that seem best adapted, in their own minds, to advance 
the great work in which we are all engaged. And when our friend 
George Sunter comes forth, and lays a still broader ground, and feels, 
as he docs, that, in advocating the right of the slave, he must go behind 
these, to the cause, — to something that he sees must be removed, or 
must be subverted, or the attention turned to it, in order more efficiently 
to work for the slave, — let us bless George Sunter, too, and be glad 
that he has a more comprehensive view than perhaps some of the rest 
of us. And if I should happen to feel and believe, that the one great 
cause of the existence of Slavery in our land, and of other great op- 
pressive systems in our own and in other lands, is to be found in the 
great error that has been so long believed and taught to the people, the 
doctrine of " Total Depravity," — that men's hearts arc more prone to 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 127 

do wrong than to do right, — if I bcHeve that tliis is the great obstacle 
to human improvement, and must be removed out of the way before we 
can expect to bring about the desired resuU, and if I occasionally ex- 
press my belief to this effect, with no intention to excite controversy or 
to wound the feelings of any one, why, you must try to bear with me, 
just as I will bear with friend Grew, and with others more Orthodox 
than myself. 

I might say here a good deal of the Woman question — as to how 
the Anti-Slavery cause has brought forward woman, and of the many 
other instrumentalities that have been brought to operate upon this enter- 
prise ; but the hour is late, and I will not do it. I might not consider 
these extraneous topics, at a proper time ; and I do say, that, in our 
desire to keep our platform directly and strictly to the subject, we must 
not go so far as to set such a limit as shall cramp the intellect and the 
heart of the advocates of Freedom, of those who would protest against 
this great, this monstrous evil of Slavery, There must be liberty ; there 
must be an acknowledgment of the right to speak out our convictions, 
incidentally, in the course of any speech or remark, without all the 
time trembling lest we should be called to order. 

Now, one word further, in relation to the means to be used for the 
promotion of this great cause. There is no danger that we shall set 
too high a value on good works. Although we are religiously taught, 
every Sunday, that good works are of no avail, the preachers do not 
seem to know that the word " good " is not to be found in the Bible, in 
this connection ; and when works are said to be of no avail, and de- 
scribed as " filthy rags," the works of the law are referred to — the 
ceremonies of the day, the rites and usages and ordinances of tiie 
Church of that time ; and, with that understanding, I do not care how 
much is said against works. But when it is maintained, (as it is in 
nearly all the religious societies of the land,) that practical goodness, 
practical righteousness — good works — are of no avail, I say that such 
a doctrine is neither scriptural nor in accordance with the instincts of 
our nature. This is one of the hindrances to every good movement. 
The veneration of the people is directed, in their religious teachings, to 
something other than to works of practical righteousness, to practical 
self-reliance and self-respect, and they are taught to withhold the credit 
that belongs to their own instincts and their own nature. 1 honor the 
beautiful sentiment of Jesus — " By their fruits ye shall know them ; for 
of thorns men do not gather grapes, nor of thistles gather they fig?." 
Let us, then, keep our hearts right, and be sure to act out our convic- 
tions of duty in our lives and conversation. (Applause.) 



128 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Mr. Garrison again came forward and addressed the audience. He 
said : — 

SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Our friend, Mr. Quincy, lias told you, that our position is outside of 
the Church and the State, and, therefore, that we have no hope of pre- 
ferment or popularity. We arc " come-outers." Now, for this many 
censure us, and ask why we do not remain both in the Church and in 
the State, in order to reform them. Conceding that both are thoroughly 
pro-slavery, they yet cannot understand why we should withdraw our- 
selves, thereby losing that influence over them, by which we might rea- 
sonably hope, in due time, to effect their reformation. Let me ask such 
censors, if they are Democrats, why they do not join the Whig party, 
which they say is corrupt to the core, — or, if Whigs, why they do not 
adhere to the Democratic party, — until it is reformed? Why do not 
the Baptists connect themselves with the Presbyterians, or the Presbyte- 
rians with the Baptists, in order to reform their doctrinal opponents ? 
The reason is obvious: — "How can two walk together, except they be 
agreed ? " Why did not Luther remain in the Romish Church ? Do 
we upbraid him — rather, do we not honor him, because he did not .^ 
Why did not our fathers remain under the British government, and keep 
on appealing to Parliament and King George, until they obtained their 
rights? The time comes, in the Providence of God, when there must 
be secession, separation, disunion, utterly and eternally ; for when did 
ever an old and powerful organization, which had become thoroughly 
corrupt, show itself capable of repentance ? 

I turn to another view of this great struggle. Plow ought we, as Ab- 
olitionists, to be judged ? Not in regard to our peculiar theological or 
political opinions, as individiials, but by our own standard of Anti-Sla- 
very duty. If we say that a certain step should be taken, those who yet 
sland aloof from us have a right to ask, whether we have set the 
example. If we say that the Church of this country is pro-slavery, and 
therefore anti-Christian ; that it ought to be branded as such, and, for the 
slave's sake, denied all religious fellowship whatever; our opponents 
have a right to ask whether u'e have had the courage to follow our own 
advice. For, if we have not, then they may justly reproach us as either 
hypocritical or cowardly. If we say to any, " You ought not to count 
reputation as of any value, in comparison with the deliverance of the 
slave," then they are justified in retorting, "Do you not care how you 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 129 

are regarded ? Do you esteem it a small thing to be judged of man's 
judgment?" And if they find us sometimes compromising our prin- 
ciples, sometimes forgetting the slave and remembering only ourselves — 
it is for them to reprove us as unfaithful to the cause which we profess 
to love. 

Again : — Do we ask any to come out of their political parties, which 
they believe and acknowledge to be thoroughly on the side of the Slave 
Power ? They have a right to ask whether we have sacrificed our party 
predilections. Do we say to all who profess to abhor Slavery, place 
upon your banner the motto, " No Union with Slaveholdkus, reli- 
giously OR politically " ? They may very properly demand, whether 
we continue to uphold the Union. In no other form, on no other issues, 
are we, as Abolitionists, to be arraigned or judged. 

When we call for a separation from the Church and the State, because 
they are blood-stained and oppressive, we know how great is the exac- 
tion. We know, experimentally, that it is no light thing to be crucified. 
Had Jesus no anguish of spirit, no agony of soul, when the nails were 
driven into his flesh, and the spear was thrust into his side, and the 
crown of thorns put on his head, and the cup of wormwood commended 
to his lips? Is it nothing to cut ofi' the right hand, or to pluck out the 
right eye ? Yet this is the spirit by which we must be animated, if we 
would be true to the slave. We believe we cannot remain in the Union, 
without sacrificing the rights of man ; without leaving the slave under 
the crushing weight of the nation. The Union ! Let us not be de- 
ceived. God never yet made it possible for a union to be formed 
between Liberty and Slavery. No two powers in the universe arc more 
antagonistical. They never agreed to strike hands, and never can, in 
the nature of things. God never made it possible for the lovers of 
Freedom, uncompromising and true, to strike hands in a union, religious 
or political, with those who trade " in slaves and the souls of men." 
What is the Union to any of us, and where is it? What has it been, 
ever since the Government was formed, but the absolute supremacy of 
the Slave Power? Absolute, I say ; as absolute as the sway of Nicho- 
las over Russia, of Francis Joseph over Austria, of J^ius Ninth over 
Italy. All the leading religious sects and political parties of the land 
are wholly subservient to the will of the Slave Power. You all know 
that we cannot assemble in the slave States, as we are met here to-day^ 
to plead the cause of the slave, excejjt at the peril of our lives. Some 
reference has been made here to our excellent and noble friend, Lucy 
Stone, and to the fact that she has spoken before slaveholders; but Miss 
Stone, though indirectly she bore a testimony against Slavery, was 



130 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

talking on another subject, and was tolerated. This is, T admit, a clieer- 
ixjff si"n of progress. But I am speaking of the South generally ; and 
I affirm that this meeting could not be taken up bodily, and transferred 
to the South, even on a day like this, and while the Southern people 
are cnfafrcd in what they call solemn worship to Almighty God, without 
bcin" broken up in confusion, and lynch law being executed upon us by 
slaveholding Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, &c. &c. This is our 
"liberty" — that we cannot go through the slave States like men, and 
live. To that part of our Union, Northern men who abhor Slavery 
dread to go, either on business or pleasure, or 'in pursuit of health, lest 
they should be suspected of being Abolitionists. They must be cau- 
tious, prudent, dumb, while there, and take care what kind of docu- 
ments they have in their possession. 

Why should the issue we present to the South be regarded as wild or 
.unreasonable .' .Before we proclaimed, " No Union with Slaveholders," 
:they had taken this for their motto — " Death to Abolitionists ! If caught 
.at the South, let their tongues be cut out, and cast upon the dunghill ! " 
AVhat kind of a Union is that ? For one, I may be pardoned if I do not 
.cherish the strongest regard for the Union, — living as I do with a price 
'Upon my "head, and outlawed in all the Southern country. Under the 
.American Constitution, freedom of speech is to be exercised only by 
■slaveholders. Boldly and audaciously do they traverse the land, cursing 
'Liberty and eulogizing Slavery as freely at our North Eastern Boun- 
dary as in Carolina or Georgia ; and this they do with all possible impu- 
nity. But woe to those who go from the North to the South, to de- 
nounce the slave system which there exists, and to call for its immediate 
extinction ! 

I know of but one redeeming feature in the character of the Southern 
slaveholders, and that is, their sturdy consistency and effrontery. They 
are never afraid to " speak right out in meeting," let who will take 
offence. They have none of that canting, snivelling hypocrisy, which 
: is so common here at the North. Let me give you a specimen of South- 
ern pluck, as contrasted with Northern " prudence." 

The Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, you know, on the 22d 
. of December, 1G20, by our present mode of reckoning. It has been 
customary, until within a {(^w years, for their hollow worshippers to 
commemorate the anniversary of that event with ostentatious demon- 
strations ; but, to their discomfort and confusion, the Abolitionists have 
repeatedly resorted to Plynriouth, on that day, and evinced their venera- 
• tion for the honored dead by making it the occasion to break the fetters 
. of the enslaved on our soil. So, these fair-weather devotees selected 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 131 

the First of August, the present year, to celebrate the embarkation of tlic 
Pilgrims, at Delft Haven, on that clay — "the beginning of the end." 
But, it happens, singularly enough, that the First of August is the anni- 
versary of British West India Emancipation ; and should the Abolition- 
ists resolve to go to Plymouth on that day, for the purpose of a two-fold 
commemoration, what would the other party do, if again put to flight ? 

Well, at the August celebration, there was a grand bancpicf, at which 
three thousand people sat down. And what an occasion to talk of per- 
sonal liberty and the rights of conscience, as paramount to all laws, gov- 
ernments and religions in the world, to the contrary ! Among the ora- 
tors on that occasion was the Hon. Edward Everett. Of course, he 
made an eloquent speech, for he never makes any other; but it was full 
of poison and death to this nation — a " fillibnstering " speech, playing 
into the liands of those who talk about '• manifest c^estiny " — the annex- 
ation of one country after another, until we swallow up all creation 
" and the rest of mankind." (Laughter.) It was his bid for the Presi- 
dency. 

Hon. Charles Sumner also made a speech — an admirable speech, 
in its way — but a speech at which no one could take offence. I will 
not doubt that the Anti»S!avery struggle, the outragfeous treatmcht of ita 
faithful advocates, and the transcendent guilt of this nation, were pres- 
ent to his mind ; but, unfortunately, he stood upon the " proprieties" of 
the place, and did not deem it judicious to make any allusion to the 
existence of Slavery in our country, lest it should mar the harmony of 
the occasion ! So, omitting all reference to the Present, and taking 
refuge wholly in the Past, he very eloquently complimented the Puri- 
tans for their marked characteristics — strong, rugged, brave, uncom- 
promising, putting unrighteous laws beneath their feet, and scouting a 
corrupt and profligate church ; and, in return, stigmatized, denounced 
and persecuted, by all the reputedly godly and law-abiding. No doubt 
this was intended, on his part, to bear inferentially on our own times, (if 
any one chose to see it,) in regard to the question of Slavery ; but some- 
thing more obvious and more direct than an inference was imperatively 
demanded by the Pilgrim spirit ; for who, among the most time-serving, 
ever thinks of taking umbrage at the most extravagant panegyrics that 
can be bestowed upon the memories of time-honored saints and heroes, 
or imagines that they are applicable to the " heretics" and " fanatics" 
of our own day ? I make this criticism, because of the relation Mr. 
Sumner publicly sustains to the Anti-Slavery cause ; and because I know 
of no opportunity more appropriate for a fearless rebuke of our great na- 
tional sin than the celebration of Forefathers' Day at Plymouth Rock. 



132 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Hon. John P. Hale also made a very good speech, and gave Mr. 
Everett a keen rebuke, in a humorous manner, for his fillibustering 
spirit. But Jie, too, was careful to make no allusion to American 
Slaverv. No ; there was not a word spoken, by which any one could 
infer that such a being as a slave existed on our soil. But there was a 
man present of a different stamp. He did not trouble himself about 
the proprieties of the occasion. He was from Charleston, S. C. ; not 
surrounded by his friends and constituents, as Sumner and Everett 
were, but far away from home, in the midst of the descendants of the 
Puritans. Yet he could dare to stand up before that vast assembly, and 
eulogise Slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law — and Webster, Clay and Cal- 
houn as dcmi-gods, because they had given their colossal strength to the 
support of them both ! Yes, he had the assurance to compliment 
Edward Everett to his face, for having said, in his place in Congress, 
many years ago, that, in case of a slave insurrection, he would be ready 
to buckle on his knapsack, shoulder his musket, and march to the assist- 
ance of the slaveholders ! 

That was on Forefathers' Day, at old Plymouth Rock ! I could not 
but admire the hardihood of the man. Ah ! when shall we have Sla- 
very abolished in our country ? When we shall have a spirit as daring 
and as vigilant as that which defends it ; as willing in one section of the 
country as another to speak its own thoughts, and to defy consequences. 
The Slave Power terrifies the North. Why are we terrified ? In itself, 
it has no resources, no safeguards, no reserved forces. It is the weak- 
est, because the wickedest Power in the world ; for weakness is always 
commensurate with wickedness — the farthest from God, the surest of 
overthrow. Its strength is here in this city ; in the pulpit and press of this 
city ; in the commercial mart here, in New York, in Boston, and in all 
the free North. It is the public sentiment, the wealth, the religious influ- 
ences, and the physical force of the North, which alone sustain and per- 
petuate Slavery. Thank God ! we have the monster in our own hands. 
It is only necessary for us to decree his death, and he shall die, and be 
buried beyond the possibility of a resurrection. Up, then, for your lib- 
erties ! If you desire a Union, resolve you will have one in which you 
can be men, and in which there shall be neither a tyrant nor a slave. If 
you want our country to be great and prosperous, and to endure to the 
latest generations, a blessing to the world, then combine all your influ- 
ences for the utter and eternal overthrow of Slavery ! (Applause.) The 
alternative is before us, as a people, and the choice must be made — 
either to give liberty to our bondmen, or to part with our own rights, and 
bring down the terrible judgments of Heaven upon the land. 



AMERICAN AKTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 133 

THIRD DAY— Morning Session. 

The Society met again, on Monday morning, in Sansom Hall, and 
was called to order at quarter past 10 o'clock, by Sajiuel J. May, one of 
the Vice Presidents. 

LucKETiA MoTT remarked, that she thought it should be a matter of 
record, that during all our meetings, the most respectful and candid atten- 
tion had been given, by the large and sometimes inconveniently crowded 
number present, to the most radical utterances of our speakers. She re- 
garded it as one among the many favorable signs of the times. 

Esther Moore referred to evidences of the great and wonderful 
change which had taken place, in regard to our cause, during the twenty 
years past. 

Mary Clement recited some beautiful lines of the late Elizabeth M. 
Chandler. 

After an animated discussion, in which O. Johnson, Esther Moore, S. 
J. May, Benjamin C. Bacon, of Pa., J. Barker, Ira Gibson, of New 
Jersey, Dr. B. Fussell, of Chester county, and others, took part, it was 

Voted, That in republishing, with the proceedings of this meeting, the 
Dcclaralion of Sentiments, with the original signatures, there shall also 
be published, in a separate list, the names of the persons (women as 
well as men) who attended the Convention of 1833, but had no oppor- 
tunity to sign the Declaration at that time ; and, furthermore, that 
another list be appended, including the names of all others, present at 
this meeting, who desire to affix their names to the Declaration. 

Oliver Johnson said, that, having examined the reports of our meet- 
ing in the daily press of this city, he considered it due to them and to 
ourselves to say, that they had generally spoken fairly of this meeting 
and its doings. There was, however, one paper, which had pursued a 
different course, and had grossly and coarsely caricatured the rncoliKiig. 
That paper was the Daily News — whose influence in that city, it was 
true, was small, but it might find credit in some quarters. As an illustra- 
tion of the malignant and calumnious spirit of this report, Mr. J. read its 
heading, and referred to some passages in it. 

[Justice requires that we state that the News subsequently corrected 
the most objectionable passage in its report, and, thus far, showed a dis- 
position to deal fairly with the Convention and its readers.] 

Joseph Barker again called attention to the subject of a systematic 
and vigorous effort for the circulation of Anti-Slavery tracts. He said 



134 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

that in England, Anti-Corn Law Tracts were issued at four-and-six- 
pence a hundred. He volunteered to be one of one hundred, who would 
give ten dollars each, to raise the sum of one thousand dollars, to be 
devoted to this object. 

Samuel J, May said, that such an enterprise had already been entered 
upon in Central New York, and that they had issued five tracts, in very 
lari'e editions, between thirty and forty thousand copies of which had 
already been published. There were five men acting as colporteurs in 
the distribution of those trqpts throughout the State. The intention was 
to flood the State with them in the course of the coming two years. 
He hoped, however, that the suggestion of Mr. Barker would be heeded, 
and that action would be taken upon it. 

Henry Grew, of Philadelphia, said he wished his position on the sub- 
ject of Infidelity understood. If he passed by a drowning man, and 
observed another endeavoring to help him out, and that he needed his 
assistance, he did not stop to consider whether the man was an Infidel or 
a Christian, or any thing else, but took hold to help him do a right 
action. So, when he heard, to his joy, of the starting of this glorious 
enterprise in the city of Boston, he at once went to the help of his friend 
Garrison, to aid him in getting the poor slave out of the pit of bondage, 
without stopping to inquire whether those associated with him were 
Christians or Infidels, Calvinists or Romanists. He was obliged, how- 
ever, from his regard for what he believed to be the truth, to dissent 
from the remark of his friend Garrison, that every Protestant was 
debarred from considering any man, in a Protestant country, an Infidel. 
What was the common acceptation of the term Infidel .'' As, in a 
Mohammedan country, a man who did not believe in the divine authority 
of the Koran was considered an Infidel, so he considered the person who 
denied the divine authority of the Bible an Infidel, though he might 
believe a great many things in the Bible, and respect the Savior, as his 
friend Garrison did, and at the same time manifest such a holy and 
benevolent life as ought to make the men ashamed who were crying out 
against him as an Infidel. 

J. M. McKiM, of Philadelphia, rose to enter his protest against this 
doctrinal discussion, as irrelevant. 

Mr. Grew. I think, if a verdict is given against me, and if I am to 
go in my old age on my hands and knees to Rome, before the sentence 
is passed against me, that I may be permitted to say something in my 
defence. (Applause.) My simple idea is, that if any man, or any angel 
from heaven, denies the truth of what the Bible claims to be the 
truth and the Word of God, that person, whoever he may be, is subject, 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 135 

in some sense, to the charge of Infidelity. This, I understand to be the 
common acceptation of the term. I do not say, even, that such a person 
may not believe enough of the truth of the Bible, and manifest such a 
moral, holy life, as to be saved by the grace of God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; but the principle, I contend, subverts the divine authority 
of the Bible entirely, and leaves us to accept or reject the Bible as any 
other book. I have no fellowship with this outcry against us as Infidels, 
on the part of many, which is made only for the purpose of placing a 
block in the way of our glorious enterprise ; but, at the same time, I wish 
to have it understood that I claim the right to consider what I have staled 
as an Infidel principle, and any man who holds it, in some respect, justly 
chargeable with Infidelity. 

Mr. Garrison said that the only point he wished to present was, that 
we are all Infidels in the view of the Romish Church, and in the view 
of !RIohammedans and Pagans, because they had absolute standards, and 
all denied the right of private judgment in regard to what was truth, as 
well as the right to worship God according to the dictates of our own 
consciences. But it was an absurdity for one Protestant to charge 
another Protestant with being an Infidel, for he was Infidel to what.? 
Even in regard to the Bible, we all claim the right to judge what it does 
teach. His friend Grew judged what he thought God taught in that 
book, and so did he. Was either of them, therefore, to call the other 
"Infidel," because he w'ould not accept him as his Pope? That was 
Anti-Protestant ; it was rejecting the ground on which they had agreed 
to stand. If each thought the other did not interpret the Word aright, 
they should differ in a loving spirit, and respect each other's conscien- 
tious views. There could be no great alienation, after all, between 
them. He could not help loving his friend Grew, and he meant to keep 
as near to him as possible. 

Thomas Whitson said, that, after the manner that his friend Grew 
called heresy, so worshipped he. 

J. M. McKiM said that, on Saturday, he called his friend Thomas 
Whitson to order, because he thought he was travelling out of the record. 
In that city, and elsewhere, he (Mr. McKim) had declared that the Anti- 
Slavery platform was free to every one ; that the Calvinist, the Unita- 
rian, the Universalist, and the Infidel, might come upon it, and act with 
them in good faith, and not have their peculiar views assailed. He be- 
lieved this statement to be true ; and he called his friend Whitson to 
order, in justice to his own convictions, and from his own sense of duly, 
believing his remarks to be irrelevant to the question before the Con- 
vention. When Henry Grew, on the other side, wandered from the 



J36 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

qucslion, he felt called upon again to raise a point of order ; for he did 
not tliink the introduction of theological questions into their meetings 
was consistent with their obligations to the friends of the cause. His 
friend Lucretia IMott had asked for a wide margin, and, of course, they 
must give a wide margin for expression there. Every one would speak 
in his own language ; and for that, all proper allowance should be made. 
He thought no one was more ready to make that allowance than him- 
self. If his friend Mrs. Mott should feel called upon to argue against 
Slavery, and maintain that the doctrine of Total Depravity was one of 
the causes of Slavery, or if another should argue that a hireling ministry 
was one of the causes of the existence of Slavery, he could bear with 
them ; but lie hoped they would also bear with him, if, from a sense of 
duty, he should rise to protest against it, as not pertinent to the occasion. 

Lucretia Mott said she considered the charges made against Aboli- 
tionists as Infidels, as most legitimately before the Convention, inasmuch 
as this charge was the only one that now remained as a bugbear to ter- 
rify those who might be disposed to come and hear them. She therefore 
regarded the remarks on the subject as perfectly proper, and thought 
that nothing was more natural than that those having different views as 
to what constituted Infidelity, should present them there. Had they not 
labored long together, and with love one to another, and could they not 
now bear the incidental mention of this question in a catholic spirit ? 
She considered the renltirks of Thomas VVhitson as perfectly relevant to 
the question before the meeting. When, on the previous day, Wendell 
Phillips spoke of the "cold isolation" of the Episcopal Church, she 
waited to see whether her friend Miller McKim would not feel called upon 
to raise a point of order, in regard to his remarks, also. 

She (Mrs. M.) wished to say, in regard to the discussion that might 
ensue as to whether they were Christians or Infidels, that it might not be 
proper, in that Convention, where so many wished to speak, to occupy 
any length of time in the consideration of the question. They might 
hold meetings afterward, and consider the subject, when they hud dis- 
posed of it as far as seemed incumbent upon them. She presumed that 
the discussion would be found to be interminable. In conclusion, Mrs. 
M. said — " O, friends, let it become ' a small thing to be judged of man's 
judgment.' Let us, with the Apostle, say, ' It is after the manner 
which men call Infidel, that we worship the God of our fathers.' What 
though they brand us with the name of ' Infidels ! ' Let it go. They 
may not write our names down with ' those who love the Lord ' ; but, 
nevertheless, if we are faithful to our convictions, if we are true to the 
impressions of the light of the Gospel of Anti-Slavery on our hearts and 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 137 

minds, we shall have such beautiful dreams of peace, that when the 
angel comes, though he may be an Orthodox Christian, and not ready to 
give our names as ' those who love the Lord,' we may be written down 
as ' lovers of our fellow-men.'" (Applause.) 

Esther Moore said she hnd for sixty years been engaged in that 
noble work, of all others in our land the most imperative upon the rising 
generation. She merely wished to observe, in relation to the subject 
under discussion, that she hoped they would let the Bible alone. Let it 
retain what hold it could on the minds of the people, and let its precious 
truths be employed to stimulate them to efforts for the emancipation of 
the slave. As for the churches, she regarded them as the strongest bul- 
warks in the way of the deliverance of those in bonds. 

S. J. May. Much has been said of the meaning of the word " Infi- 
del," so often applied to certain individuals, who frequent our meetings, 
and are welcomed to our platform. I shall not pursue the chameleon 
epithet. Whether we can define Infidelity or not, this I know, we have 
apostolic authority for saying that there is something worse than Infidel- 
ity. In 1st Timothy, 5 : 8, Paul says, " If any provide not for his own, 
and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and 
is worse than an Infidel." Now, if this be so, then the worst kind of 
that which is worse than Infidelity must be chargeable upon those who 
hinder^ directly or indirectly, a man from providing for those of his own 
house. (Cheers.) If, therefore, we are charged with an indefinable 
something called " Infidelity," (all the more dreadful, probably, because 
of its vagueness, its obscurity.) we may retort upon our accusers, that 
they are worse even than those who are worse than Infidels, in so far as 
they are directly or indirectly interposing their influence or authority, or 
the authority of the Constitution, or of the Bible, to hinder the fathers 
of the enslaved families in our land from providing for their wives and 
their children. Slaveholders, and the apologists for slavcholding, should 
be regarded as the worst of Infidels. 

AVendell Phillips said he hoped, that in the report that was to be 
made of that meeting, his protest would be found against the doctrine 
of his friend, Ldcretia Mott. The question between them was not, 
in his opinion, one of love to each other, but a question of public faith, 
which they were breaking, when they undertook to introduce, upon that 
platform, the discussion of religious character. They were not all the 
Abolitionists in the world. They did not expect, by their own unaided 
efforts, to free the slave. They called upon all creeds to come up and 
help them, and they had assured them, from the commencement of the 
enterprise to the present time, that they should find nothing to shock 



138 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

their religious convictions on the Anti-Slavery platform. He would 
allow, with Mrs. Mott, that it was necessary to the frankness and the 
usefulness of every speaker, that he or she should speak their own 
thoughts, and argue in their own way; and it was unavoidable that a 
man who made a long speech on that platform should unfold, incident- 
ally, the tone of his religious convictions. It would be impossible for 
his friend Barker to make a speech there an hour long, on the subject of 
Slavery, without their being able to guess what his religious convictions 
were ; and so with himself, or any one else. This was allowable, 
because every man must preserve his individuality ; it was the sine qua 
non of his being useful to the cause. But, beyond that, they had no 
right to tread ; and the moment they began to argue to an audience, 
gathered under the sanction of the American Anti-Slavery Society, that 
it was necessary to believe the Bible, in order to free the slave, they had 
broken their pledge to the public ; and the moment they began to argue 
that it was nG«a5ssary to disbelieve the Bible, and go over or under the 
old doctrine of inspiration, in order to free the slave, they had broken 
faith with the Abolitionists o'" this country and of England, and had no 
right to call themselves the American Anti-Slavery Society. When his 
friend, Mrs. Mott, undertook to argue that the doctrine of Total Deprav- 
ity must be got rid of before we could free the slave, it seemed to him that 
she transgressed the limit which that platform imposed upon every individ- 
ual. The English Orthodox Abolitionists had a right to find fault with her, 
for that audience had been gathered together by the name of the Amer- 
ican Anti-Slavery Society, and they had no right to argue such a ques- 
tion. Individually, though an Orthodox man, he had no objection to 
Mrs. M's arguing that doctrine, at any length ; but his objection was, 
that if she rose to argue her side of the question, it would, from the 
necessity of the case, be found that some one else would feel called 
upon to answer her, and thus the time would be wasted by discussions 
which were not within the fair line of argument here. The reason why 
he (Mr. P.) kept himself with extra scrupulousness to the legitimate 
topics of discussion was, that he should provoke opposition by introduc- 
ing extraneous and irrelevant questions. He held that every true friend 
of organized action would make his line narrow, in that respect, in 
order that he might save them from discussions like those of that 
morning. He held himself bound to stand on the narrowest lim.i,t 
that would do justice to his own individual feelins- He thought he 
should be "obtaining goods under false pretences," if he should invite 
the Orthodox Anti-Slavery of Great Britain to cooperate with him, and 
then, when they were absent, assail their religious creed or opinions. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 139 

He stood there to guard the rights of men whose right hands they had 
so often solicited, and he felt himself hound, as their vigilant brotlier, to 
see that nothing was uttered on that platform to which they could justly 
object. The American Abolitionists had a right to defend themselves 
from the charge of Infidelity ; not by showing that they believed in the 
Bible, the Church, or the Sabbath, but by undertaking to show that the 
Society, in its collective capacity, had never arraigned the Church, or 
the Bible, or the Sabbath, except as some individual or body undertook 
to use the Sabbath, the Church, or the Bible, as a shield for the system 
of Slavery. So far they could go, but no further. 

Mr. Phillips said, in conclusion, that he had made these remarks, in 
order to show to the Abolitionists of this country, and across the water, 
that the American Society kept faith with them, and had not yet cut 
away from its old anchorage — the conviction that, without attacking 
Inspiration or Orthodoxy, and without, at the same time, sustaining their 
claims, they could free the slave, if they would give them their help. 

Mr. Garrison rose to say, that he hoped no one would rise on that 
platform to apologize for raising a point of order. Any speaker might 
properly be called to order, at any time, by any individual who thought 
he was wandering from the question ; but he (Mr. G.) thought that, in 
this matter, they were " giving to an inch the importance of a mile." 
He fully agreed in all his friend Phillips had said, in reference to the 
fidelity which they owed to persons of all religious opinions, whether on 
this or the other side of the Atlantic ; and for himself, he had endeav- 
ored, in good faith, while speaking his own mind naturally and freely on 
the question of Slavery, to keep their cause distinct and isolated from 
every other question, in order that no person could fairly be excused 
from rallying under the Anti-Slavery standard. But it seemed to him 
that there was danger of erring on the other side. There was a very 
broad distinction between the incidental expression of a peculiar theolog- 
ical opinion, without the intention of proselyting any body, and the Soci- 
ety, as such, gravely undertaking to pass judgment upon the peculiar 
opinion that might thus be expressed. When, for example, the Anieri- 
can Anti-Slavery Society, as such, shall bring in the Sabbath question, 
or the Bible question, or that pertaining to Total Depravity, or any simi- 
lar question, and undertake to settle it, then it will deserve to be branded 
as false to its promises. But he maintained that the Society had always 
been as rigidly true to its profession as liis friend (Mr. Phillips) desired 
it to be. It had never undertaken to settle any thing but the rights of 
the slave, as a man, and beyond that, as an Association, it had nothing 
to say. 



140 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSART OF THE 

Now, SO easy is it for a speaker to express himself, unconsciously, in 
a way to give umbrage to some captious spirit, intent on " making a man 
an oflender for a word," that even his friend Phillips had laid himself 
open to the charge of wantonly assailing a religious body on foreign 
ground. When, on another occasion, he (Mr. Phillips) spoke of the 
Episcopal Church as being isolated, cold and aristocratic, an Episcopa- 
lian might have complained of it as an invidious thrust at Episcopacy, 
because he spoke of its inherent spirit, and not simply of its pro-slavery 
position ; though afterwards he gave his criticism an Anti-Slavery bearing, 
in showing how even that body had been operated upon by the Anti- 
Slavery influences of our land. Yet he (Mr. G.) was sure Mr. Phillips 
did not mean to offend any one ; and he did not think it was worth while 
for them to be sensitive in regard to such incidental remarks, for 
which this Society could not justly be held amenable. 

George Sunter remarked that one protest was as good as another. 
They could not talk of toleration, and then endeavor to restrict the 
expression of opinion, without giving countenance to the pro-slavery 
spirit ; for it was the old spirit of mastership that enslaved the black, and 
if they meant to go to the root of the evil, they would have to acknowl- 
edge the right of every man to be independent of all authority outside of 
himself. 

Joseph Barker said he rose to express his dissent from some of 'the 
remarks of Mr. Phillips. It appeared to him perfectly in order for any 
man to attempt, in his own way, to rebut the charge of Infidelity brought 
against Anti-Slavery advocates and men. If he was called an Infidel, 
because he took part in the Anti-Slavery movement, he had a right to 
do one of two things, — either to prove that he was not an Infidel, or 
else, if he acknowledged that, in some sense, he was an Infidel, that to 
be an Infidel in that sense was not a bad thing, but a good thing. The 
word " Infidel " either meant that a man did not believe as people gen- 
erally believed, or else it meant a man who, although he does believe 
aright, is unfaithful to his own judgment and conscience. In the first 
sense, they were all Infidels, because no one believed as the majority of 
mankind believed ; but in the second sense, they, as Anti-Slavery men, 
had the right to say they were not Infidels — that ihey believed their 
doctrines to be true, and that they endeavored to act according to those 
doctrines, to the best of their ability ; and this was in perfect order. 

There were those, Mr. Barker said, who considered Anti-Slavery a 
theological question ; and he thought that the introduction of theological 
remarks, if they were such remarks as bore directly upon the Slavery 
question, were not out of order. They all knew that the Churches of 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 141 

the country were the bulwarks of American Slavery, and the Anti- 
Slavery men were considered to be in order in taking this ground ; and 
if any person should say that a certain false respect for the divine 
authority of the Bible was the bulwark of the American Church, he 
thought that also would be in order. Suppose that he believed that the 
Bible, as generally understood, was really the stronghold of all oppres- 
sions, (as he certainly did,) he would have the right, as an Anti-Slavery 
advocate, to speak, his views, and to call upon the people to help him 
remove this erroneous opinion of the Bible out of the way. If another 
man lield the contrary opinion, he might reply to him there ; and if any 
evil resulted from their stating their views, it would be for want of char- 
ity or for want of judgment, and not because either of them violated liie 
proper order of a meeting like that. 

His friend Phillips had spoken of the English Abolitionists. Some of 
them were Infidels, in the common use of that word, and some were 
Orthodox, and they could not please them all. They could please all 
the reasonable men of both parties only by allowing the Society to take 
neither position; and that was the ground it now held, and which, ho 
predicted, it would never abandon. While the Society held that central 
ground, it was an Anti-Slavery Society, and neither a Christian nor nn 
Anti-Christian, a believing nor an unbelieving, a Jewish, Pagan nor Turk- 
ish institution, — leaving each member of the Society to advocate the 
grand Anti-Slavery principle in just such way, and by just such argu- 
ments, as he might think best and most effective. He knew no 
other ground than this. They could not please all the English Aboli- 
tionists ; for some of them were as unreasonable as men could be, v hile 
others were as wise and good as men could be, and nothing within the 
bounds of reason would give them offence. 

Mr. Phillips had said that every advocate should make his own line as 
narrow as possible, and so he (Mr. B.) said ; but no other person should 
attempt to make the circle narrow for him. If they did make the 
attempt, they would describe a hundred wide circles, in trying to make 
one narrow. He (Mr. B.) had endeavored to draw a very narrow circle, 
and believed that he had succeeded better than even Mr. Phillips him- 
self; but let each one take his own range. An argument convinced 
him that Slavery was a bad thing, which would not convince another ; 
and that other might be convinced by an argument that would not reach 
him ; and, therefore, it was necessary that every possible argument 
should be urged, in order that all might be convinced. He was regarded 
as exceedingly zealous in a cause which some thought Infidel, but which 
he called the cause of God and Humanity ; but he would be exceed- 



142 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

in<'ly careful not to introduce his views on an occasion like that, if he 
could hell) it, so anxious was he that nothing should be said to disturb the 
harmony of an Anti-Slavery meeting. But they must, while taking a 
little liberty themselves, allow liberty to others ; nay, they must allow a 
great deal of liberty, if they wished to have justice done to the cause. 
It was not worth while to attempt to conciliate either the American or 
the European Church. The European Churches were Infidel to the 
'cause of Humanity. He knew that the English Churches were at pres- 
ent, to some extent, Anti-Slavery ; but they were as faithless on the sub- 
ject of Temperance as the American Churches on the subject of Sla- 
very, and they did not deserve all the credit for the good they really 
did, because their motives were not quite pure. It was his firm convic- 
tion, that it would be a very good thing to move as if they were not 
aware of the existence of a Church organization in the world, and so to 
pursue their course of reform and humanity as by their efforts to make 
it worth the while, by and by, for every such organization to join with 
them to swell the tide, if it will not join with them to gain the victory. 

William Brown hoped that the inspiration of the Bible would not be 
called in question, for it wounded the feelings of those who reverenced 
it ; and he thought that, in so doing, the speakers did not confine them- 
selves to the Anti-Slavery platform. He believed that that very book 
afforded the strongest vindication for the cause, and he had not heard a 
speaker on that platform, who had not quoted the Bible to sustain his 
positions. 

Mr. Phillips again took the platform, observing that he regarded the 
points then under discussion as of more importance than any which had 
previously occupied the attention of the meeting. He thought that, sub- 
stantially, his friend Barker agreed with him, in his practical explanation 
of the Anti-Slavery platform ; but he objected to his theory, from which 
he thought his conduct entirely differed ; and his objection to it was not 
because he either feared or hoped much from the American Church, or 
any other. He did not care for that ; but he had pledged his faith to 
lhe public, and meant to keep it. As he understood that pledge, what had 
passed upon the platform was a breach of it ; and he thought the princi- 
ples laid down by his friend Barker a breach of it, but he did not think 
his conduct was. If he (Mr. B.) supposed the Bible to be the bulwark 
of Slavery, as he (Mr. P.) had said a pro-slavery Church was, or if Mrs. 
Mott thought one of the doctrines of Orthodox belief was the bulwark 
of Slavery, had they a right to get up on that platform, and make a 
speech to show that fact.? [A voice — " Yes."] Had they a right to go 
xtn and show that the doctrines of the inspiration of the Bible and of Total 



AMERICAN ANTl-SLAVERT SOCIETY. 148 

Depravity are obstacles in the way of the Anti-Slavery cause ? If they 
had, then their agents had, and Parker Pillsbury had a right to go 
through the country, and argue that the belief in the inspiration of the 
Bible and in Total Depravity are both necessary to be overthrown, 
before Slavery can be abolished. Was it the understanding with the 
Ortliodox friends in Massachusetts, when they asked them to contribute 
their funds to pay the salary of Parker Pillsbury, that lie should go 
through the State, and argue that it is necessary to get rid of tlie inspi- 
ration of the Bible and Total Depravity, before they could abolish Sla- 
very ? He contended that it was not. An Abolitionist might take his 
staff in his iiand, and go wliere he pleased, and argue what he pleased, 
and he (Mr. P.) had no fault to find ; but what he asked was, wi)at right 
a speaker had, with an audience before him collected by the name of 
the American Anti-Slavery Society, and witli a record to bo published 
by the friends of the Society, stamped with the seal of that Society, and 
circulated under its countenance, to introduce such topics? He con- 
tended that he had but a qualified right. As an individual, he had a 
right to argue that, until they believed the five points of Calvin, they 
could not be Abolitionists ; but, standing on that platform, ids position 
was different. In their Declaration of Sentiments, they had laid down 
their principles, upon a universal basis, and consequently invited the 
cooperation of all sects and parties, without requiring any other test 
of Anti-Slavery character. There was a time when some friends thought 
human government itself was the bulwark of Slavery, and they thought 
they could bring the debate on the Anti-Slavery platform ; but that rigiit 
was denied, and the Society restricted them, wjiile on its platform, to 
questions legitimately before it, leaving the individual to his own course 
outside of it. fie held that that rule was to be as strictly construed as 
possible. If he had overstepped the bounds in remarks having reference 
to the Episcopal Church, he asked pardon, and Mr. Garrison should have 
called him to order. 

H^e (Mr. Phillips) went to England, in 1840, in company with eleven 
others, to attend the World's Anti-SIaverj' Convention, and lie was asked, 
in regard to one of tlie twelve, what his religious belief was ; and he 
could not tell, though he had labored with hitn four years. He thought 
that individual had behaved honestly on the Anti-Slavery platforni, and 
he was an able and efiicient man. The question Ijefore them was a 
very important one to the existence of the Society, and he thought it 
should be settled how broad a meaning might be attached to the word 
" incidentally." He thought that their friend, the President, (Mr. Gar- 
rison,) if he was to be understood to the e.\lcnt he at first intimated. 



144 TWENTIETH ANNIVEKSARY OF THE 

was surrendering a portion of that neutrality that had hitherto been their 
main defence. He (Mr. P.) wished to understand the sense in which the 
Socistv took its Constitution ; for he had heretofore been in the custom, 
when he addressed the people in different localities, of assuring them 
that they should not hear, on the Anti-Slavery platform, any arguments 
against their peculiar creeds. He could not say that any longer, if such 
speeches as they had listened to from their good friend from the other 
side of the water (Mr. Barker) were considered in order. 

Mr. Garrison. Or such allusions to the Episcopal Church as were 
made by our friend Phillips ! (Laughter.) 

Mr. Phillips. If I wandered from the question, I should have been 
called to order. I do not object to any man's calling me to order. I do 
not mean to make these meetings the indirect occasion of converting 
any man to my creed ; and I do not think that my friend, Lucretia Mott, 
means to make them the occasion of converting people to her creed ; 
but I believe she would be understood to claim the right to do so. 

Joseph Barker said, that he thought a hired agent was bound to do 
what he was hired to do. He thought that the position of an agent was 
different from that which he (Mr. B.) occupied on that platform ; and he 
did not see that his friend Phillips and himself differed on any other mat- 
ter. As for explaining the word " incidentally," he could not do it 
then, and did not know that he ever could. 

Thomas Whitson said, that as he had been the subject of some dis- 
cussion there, he felt that it would onl)'- be doing himself justice to make 
soiiK) explanation. He supposed he was understood there. He did call 
people differing from him Infidels; but he did not do it in any invidious 
spirit, and believed he had the same right to do this, that they iiad to 
call him an Infidel. He honored his friend Grew, notwithstanding their 
doctrines totally disagreed, and ho thought that his friend Grew had a 
perfect right to do as he had done. He (Mr. W.) thought that his friend 
Miller McKim was as incapable of doing any thing invidious towards 
him, as he could be towards any other individual, and he did not object to 
being called to order, though he thought it was not necessary. He (Mr. 
W.) had not said that he did not believe in a personification of the Deity; 
he simply remarked, that th.ey would excuse him if he did not express 
any belief. He wanted them to believe in certain attributes that he 
thought every innn must recognise, to do the slave justice;. 

Isaac Flint, of Maryland, expressed his hope that such extraneous 
topics would not be introduced upon the Anti-Slavery platform. He 
thought that if an unlimited range were allowed on such subjects, it 
would infringe upon the peculiar object of the Society, as an organiza- 



IMKKICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 145 

iron for the Abolition of Slavery. The Society, in its Declaration 
OF Sentiments, had cited the Bible in support of its position. 

Mr. Garrison said, that their friend had referred to the Declaration 
OF Sentiments as appealing to the Bible, because there was a reference 
in that Declaration to the book of Exodus, wherein tliey affirm that tlic 
text authorized them to declare that every slaveholder is a man-stoaler. 
Now, the Society, as such, had never ^contravened that declaration. 
The simple fact was, that it was the only Society in this counlrv which 
had ever caused a defence of the Bible to be written against all pro-slavery 
interpretations thereof — the famous " Bible Argument " of Theodork 
D. Weld, which was published by the Society, and circulated broadcast 
through the land. No other Society had undertaken to vindicate the 
Bible as an Anti-Slavery book. They had twice offered five thousand 
dollars to the American Bible Society, if that Society, making some 
additional appropriations, would distribute that amount in Bibles among 
the slave population, and those propositions were both declined I Instead 
of attempting, therefore, as a Society, to disparage the book, it was the 
only Society which had vindicated it against the aspersions of the clergy, 
who had interpreted it to sanction Slavery. 

Edward M. Davis, of Philadelphia, said that his feeling was, that if 
Thomas Whitson, Joseph Barker, or Wendell Phillips, or any one, was 
accused of being an Infidel, he was not at liberty to defend himself on 
tiie Anti-Slavery platform ; but if the Anti-Slavery Society, as an organi- 
zation, was accused of being an Infidel organization, it was proper to 
defend the Society there. They must sink the individual, on that plat- 
form ; and if they discriminated in tb.at way, they would neither feel 
themselves restrained, nor exercise an undue libert3^ 

Mr. Barker said he had not asserted that he was at liberty there to 
defend himself against the charge of Infidelity ; he only said tluit they 
had a right to defend the Society against such a charge. 

Charles C. Burleigh wished to present a fact or two, showing hovr 
this question of " extraneous topics " had practically been regarded. The 
offence was taken by those who had, all along, exercised a well-nigh 
unquestioned, perhaps an entirely unquestioned, right to introduce theic 
own peculiar opinions — being those which agreed with the opinions and. 
feelings of the majority. He had never heard that those who objected 
to some incidental avowal of heretical opinions there, objected to the 
Orthodox opinions that had been introduced in the discussion of various 
topics. [Hear, hear.] In one of his lecturing tours in Ohio, he (INIr. B.). 
had met a very earnest Anti-Slavery man, who was also a very earnest 
champion of the Orthodox faith, and a minister of the gospel. In con- 



IIG TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

vcrsation with him, the clergyman remarked — "I do wish I could 
impress upon 5'our mind the importance of adopting the doctrines which 
I claim as essential to man's salvation, I think you would be much more 
successful, if you could only see Anti-Slavery as embodied in Jesus 
Christ, and feel that, to be successful, you must base your efTorts upon 
his Christian office, as Mediator and Savior." He wanted him (Mr. B.) 
to go forth as the advocate of tlic Anti-Slavery cause, and plead it upon 
that ground. No doubt, if he had taken the trouble, he could easily liave 
shown him that, as the representative of other men, he could not con- 
sistently do that ; but the anecdote would show them how some, at the 
first glimpse, looked at tlie matter, and how perfectly destitute of all right 
were such men to call in question the incidental remarks, conflicting 
with their views, which were uttered upon the Anti-Slavery platfornv 
from time to time. He afterwards attended a Convention, in which that 
very man read a written discourse, in which he argued substantially the 
very same principle that he had thrown out to him more briefly, in private 
conversation. In that Convention — it was true, it was a Christian 
Anti-Slavery Convention — there were Christians who entirely dif- 
fered from his Orthodox views; and yet, they listened with perfect 
patience ; not a word of objection was offered, on their part. [Hear, 
hear.] But, if one of them liad risen, and as distinctly argued in favor 
of his view in regard to the office and character of Jesus Christ, he 
would have been called to order twenty times, before he had got through 
as many sentences. The truth was, the advocates of Orthodox opinions 
generally had so long been accustomed to giving utterance to their senti- 
ments without question, that the moment any thing was said which con- 
flicted with their opinions, they were exceedingly sensitive, and quite for- 
getful of the large measure of liberty which they had themselves 
enjoyed. For his part, like his friend Barker, he always tried to keep 
whatever opinions he entertained on theological matters to himself; but 
he thought that all should be tolerant toward any incidental expression 
of opinion different from their own. 

Nevertheless, Mr. Burleigh said that the distinction which had been 
made there, between a defence of individual opinion and of the Society 
against charges affecting its character and usefulness, was a proper and 
just one, and should be borne in mind on all occasions. The speaker 
should be held bound to avoid all direct discussion of those questions 
which did not immediately and directly pertain to the question before 
them ; and, therefore, he agreed with the doctrine that their friend 
Phillips had advocated. But he still insisted upon it, that those who had 
objected to any deviations from that principle, ought to remember ho\y 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 147 

patiently, and how tolerantl}^ and how long, they had boon listened to, 
when they had uttered, sometimes in speech, sometimes in song, some- 
times in prayer, sentiments that were entirely at variance v/ith those of 
a very respectable minority of their associates in this labor. 

The following Resolutions, from the Business Commit'ee, were then 
presented for tlie consideration of the meeting: — 

Resolved, That tlie rencTved and lieirtfclt tliaulis of this Society be proffered to 
the many faithful friends of (he Anti-Slavery cause, across the Atlantic, for the 
generous and important aid which they have rendered it by their contril)ntions to 
the National Bazaar, and tlu-ough other channels, and by their emphatic religious 
testimony, transmitted to this country from time to time, against the prostitution of 
the Christian faith and the Cliristian Church to the support of the impious system 
of Slavery, by admitting slaveholders to Christian communion ; and we earnestly 
beseech them not to give any heed to the assertion, whenever or by whomsoever 
made, that they are doing more harm than good by their interference for the eman- 
cipation of those in bondage on our soil, but rather to multiply their expostulations, 
warnings and rebukes, in the same spirit of good will and Christian fidelity, and to 
continue their pecuniary cooperation to the extent of their ability — assured that, in 
this manner, they are powerfully accelerating the approach of that day when the 
trump of jubilee shall " proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the 
inhabitants thereof." 

Resolved, That our most grateful acknowledgments are tendered to our long-tried 
and highly esteemed fellow-laborer, James Miller McKim, for his gratuitous and 
effective vindication of this Society, and its prominent supporters, against the num- 
berless false and malicious charges brought against them tiy the enemies of individual 
and universal fieedom, during his late visit to England ; and also to our equally 
devoted friend, Sarah PaGn, for a similar labor performed abroad during a more 
protracted absence ; and that we hail their return to these shores, and to the 
field of conflict, in health, ready as hitherto to spend and be spent in the noblest 
cause of the age. 

J. Miller McKim, of Philadelphia, rose to respond to the Resolutions : 

SPEECH OF J. MILLER MCKIM.* 

Mr. Chairman : 

I have been requested, by some of the friends, to take this opportunity 
to give some account of my visit to Europe, — and I am quite willing to 
oblige them ; but, really, I do not know what I can say, that will be at 



♦Owing to indisposition, Mr. McKim was unable to deliver but a small portion of 
this Speech from the platform ; but, in compliance with the request of the Society, 
he baa kindly written out the remarks he intended to make, for publication. 



148 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

nil likelv to interest this meeting, and at the same lime be appropriate to 
the occasion. However, I will state what occurs to me; and as my visit 
abroad was neither long nor eventful, my story will soon be told. 

I went abroad for reasons partly personal, and partly Anti-Slavery. 
Personally, I needed relaxation from the routine of duties, that, for four- 
teen years, had confined me to one spot ; and Anti-Slavery wise, having 
a high appreciation of the importance of British cooperation in our Anti- 
Slavery movement, I was desirous of doing what I could to make this 
cooperation more effective. I was absent nearly six months. During 
that time, I visited the principal cities, and chief points of Anti-Slavery 
interest, in England, Scotland and Ireland, besides spending about six 
weeks on the continent. It would be tedious, as well as unproHtable, to 
o-o into any thing like a detailed account of my journeyings ; suffice it 
that I mention only some of the results of my observation, and a few of 
my best remembered experiences. 

Under this latter head, I would .say that, however it may be with 
other things, it is not true of American Slavery, that "distance lends 
enchantment to the view," If I may judge from my own experience, 
quite the contrary is the fact. The further I got away from Slavery, the 
more hateful the system seemed, and the more deeply I abhorred it. 
There are some things, — objects of great magnitude, for instance, — 
that are better seen at a distance, than close at hand. Their outlines 
become more distinct, and the eye can better take in their proportions, 
and their relations to other objects. Such is the f\ict with regard to 
American Slavery. I thought I understood the system pretty well before 
I went away, and that I had formed something like an adequate appreci- 
ation of its enormity ; but, seen from a more distant stand-point, its 
hideous outlines became more palpable, and I more clearly compre- 
hended the height and depth of the evil, and the vast extent of its 
blighting influence. I never once lost sight of it, nor were the thoughts 
of its enormity long at a time absent from my mind. Whenever I 
reverted to America, I saw the black cloud hanging over its horizon, 
like a pall, darkening every object on which it cast its shadow, and dis- 
figuring every thing in it that was beautiful. 

The tourist abroad is continually reminded of home. In- every thing 
that claims his attention, whether it be natural scenery, political institu- 
tions', or social usage, he sees either a contrast or a resemblance ; and, 
with the exception of Slavery and its belongings, I may add, there is 
nothing in America that he need be ashamed of. Our lakes and rivers, 
and forests and plains, are on a scale of grandeur and magnificence, 
with which nothing that he sees abroad can compare. In natural scene- 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 149 

ry, all that we want is culture and time, and tlie associations of history 
and tradition, to make America the admiration of the world. Our 
material resources are immeasurable, and the undeveloped wealth of the 
country exhaustless. In theory, our political system is almost all that 
could be desired, and the practical workings of our really free institutions 
are such as to commend them to every one's favor. But, over all, hangs 
the blight and curse of Slavery ; retarding the development of our mate- 
rial resources, corrupting the morals and making barbarous the manners 
of those who cherish il, and counteracting the operation and perverting 
the use of our best institutions. To a reflecting traveller, this fact, 
however distinctly it may have been apprehended at home, becomes 
abroad much more painfully palpable. 

There is one feature of our slave system, or tendency of its operation, 
rather, which is especially striking to a traveller in Europe, and that is, 
the hindrance that it imposes to the progress of Liberty among the 
nations of that continent. I would not underrate the influence exerted 
by this country for good, in this respect. There can be no doubt, that 
the illustration furnished to the world by the United States, of the possi- 
bility of national self-government, of the practicability of a Church, 
without the support of the State, and of the enjoyment by the people of 
all social, educational and material advantages, under laws made and 
administered by themselves, has contributed immensely to the advance- 
ment of free principles among the old nations of Europe ; and it is true, 
no doubt, that the influence of this example is still, to some extent, ad- 
vantageously felt. But it is equally true, that this influence is greatly 
counteracted, and in some parts of Europe more than counteracted, by 
the opposite example of our inconsistency, and by the lie which our 
tyranny over the colored race, bond and free, gives to all our principles 
and professions. That this point may be better understood, let me state 
one or two facts that came within the purview of my own experience. 

When in Paris, I had my lodgings with a man who, in 1848, had 
been an ardent republican, but who had afterwards turned reiictionist, 
and, at the time to which I refer, was an earnest supporter of Louis Na- 
poleon and the Empire. He and I had several conversations and some 
argument on the subject. In the course of one of these, he referred, 
with exultation, to the existence of Slavery in America, and the preva- 
lence of mob law. " Ah ! " said he, " I am no longer a Democrat. 
Democracy in France means Anarchy; in America, it means Slave- 
holding." 

In Genevn, I met an intelligent Italian, who was living there in exile. 
He had compromised his safety by the part he took in the Revolution of 



J50 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

1849, and when ihe Republic which had been there established was over- 
thrown, he left his home, determined never again to return, till he could 
see his country delivered from the hands of its oppressors. He was 
waiting in Geneva, hoping that something would occur that would bring 
about this much-desired event. I fell in with him by accident, and was 
the second American he had ever seen. He grasped my hand with 
great cordiality and enthusiasm. He had admired America, and still 
cherished towards her the kindest feelings. He had read, when a boy, 
the life of our great " citoyen," as he called him, by his countryman, 
Botta, and had conceived the liveliest admiration for the republic which 
he had been the instrument of founding. When he reached manhood, 
he himself became a republican, and took some part in establishing a 
form of government of that kind in his own country. This did not last 
long, however; despotism was reestablished, and Italy was again in the 
thrall of the tyrant. He had been looking to America for help. He 
had watched with great interest the reception of Kossuth there, and had 
hoped for some kind of interposition that would restore to his country 
her liberty. But he had been disappointed. He had learned that Sla- 
very, which at first was a comparatively small thing, had swelled to an 
enormous magnitude, and that its victims were now a nation of more 
than three millions; and, more than this, that the system had so corrupt- 
ed those who supported it, that they were incapable of sympathy with 
oppressed nations in other lands, and unwilling to aid in efforts for their 
deliverance. This information had affected him with profound sorrow. 
" I larmcd over it," said he, coining a word from the French to help out 
his meagre stock of English ; and while he spoke, the tears of unaffected 
grief stood in his eyes. His emotion was contagious, and I literally 
wept with him over the sin and shame of my country. I never was fur- 
ther away from Slavery than I was at this point, and yet never did I see 
its evils more distinctly, nor loathe the system itself with a deeper abhor- 
rence. 

On the other hand, while I found that Slavery became more odious the 
further I receded from it, its opposite, Freedom, or, more specifically, 
Anti-Slavery, became proportionally more attractive. All the arguments 
in favor of Abolition seemed to acquire double force. Religion, Hu- 
manity, Justice, Expediency, Patriotism, seemed to plead with addition- 
al eloquence in its favor ; but none with more force than the last men- 
tioned — Patriotism. Abolitionists are not aware how much love of 
country they cherish, until they leave their own shores. Such, at least, 
was the case with myself. Sensible as I was of the sin of my country, 
I was, at the same time, not unconscious of a heartfelt attachment to 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 151 

her, and the deepest solicitude for her welfare. For America is, after 
all, and without cant, a great country. In territory, equal nearly to the 
whole European continent; though yet in her infancy, a peer of other 
nations, and among the first powers of the earth ; her population, 
as a whole, brave and enterprising, illustrating their character, where 
not hindered by Slavery, in stupendous schemes of internal im- 
provement, in the subjugation of trackless forests, and their con- 
version into smiling plains and flourishing villages ; in her immense 
commercial marine, that whitens every sea with its sails ; in her 
growing literature, her system of popular education, and her many 
flourishing enterprises for the moral and social improvement of the peo- 
ple. In all these respects, America is truly a great country ; and that she 
is destined to exert a controlling influence on other nations, is a matter 
on which there is no room for controversy. Whether this influence will 
be for evil or for good, depends on the way in which this Anti-Slavery 
question is settled. If Slavery triumphs, and the efforts for its abolition 
should prove a failure, the ruin of the country is sealed, and the hopes 
of struggling nations, from this quarter at least, are at an end. But if 
the Anti-Slavery movement should prove successful, (as I have no doubt 
whatever it will,) and if this curse and blot is removed from our land, the 
benefits to accrue to the world, moral, political and material, seem to me 
to be great, beyond all computation. The man who is laboring faithfully 
for emancipation, is doing the best thing possible for his country and his 
kind. He is engaged in one of the most beneficent works that can claim 
the aid of man. 

All this seemed strikingly clear to me when I was abroad. I rejoiced, 
as I had done a thousand times before, that my eyes had been opened 
to see the truth of Abolition, and that my heart had been touched by its 
power. I rejoiced, too, in the communion and fellowship, present and 
absent, of my brother Abolitionists. INIy co-laborers at home were 
never separated from me in spirit. I often thought of them, and thought 
of them with pride. I remembered their early consecration to the 
cause, their unswerving fidelity, their cheerfulness under trials, and their 
patience under persecution ; and I rejoiced that my lot had been cast 
among them, and that I was permitted to enjoy the privilege of their 
fellowship. 

True Abolitionists are the same all the world over. They are of the 
same spirit, and their lives show the informing influence of the same 
faith. They readily recognise each other, and are attached by a mutual 
affinity. By true Abolitionists, I mean those who are such from princi- 
ple, from deep religious conviction, who put nothing above their duty to 



152 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

the cause, in religion, politics or personal interest, and who reject every 
thin"^ as erroneous that contravenes its requirements. There are some 
Abolitionists of this class in England, but, as compared with the great 
mass, not many. The English people are generally opposed to Slavery, 
just as all other people are who have no interest in supporting it, because 
it is abhorrent to justice, humanity, and every right feeling of our nature, 
an outrage upon man, an insult to God, and an evil in every light in 
which it can be viewed. In addition to this, they have been educated 
to hate it, by the long contest that was waged, first for the abolition of 
the slave-trade, and next for emancipation in their own colonies. But it 
is only a small portion of them who fully embrace the principle, under- 
stand its bearings, and surrender themselves implicitly to its guidance. 
Some of this kind, however, there are in all parts of the kingdom. I 
found them in London, Bristol and Leeds ; in Edinburgh, Glasgow and 
Perth ; in Be fast, Dublin and Cork. These are the leaven that leavens 
the whole luiTip. They are the workers of the cause; the reliable ones 
whose interest in its prosperity never flags, and who are instant in sea- 
son and out of season, in their efforts for its advancement. 

Abolitionists of this class have a strong affinity for the American 
Anti-Slavery Society. They may have heard the charges brought 
against some of its leading members, of irreligion and infidelity, and at 
times may not have known how to reply to them ; but their conviction 
of the Anti-Slavery integrity of these men was not to be shaken, and their 
better instincts, in the absence of other testimony, always served to sat- 
isfy them that charges of this kind could have no just foundation. 

But you will want to hear something of the present state of feeling in 
/'England in regard to American Slavery, and of the prospects of our cause 
in this direction. On this point, I can speak cheeringly. Never before 
was there as living and intelligent an interest manifested in this question, 
nor so general a desire shown for its early and peaceful settlement. 
This feeling is the result of influences that have been in operation for 
the last twenty years. After the act of emancipation in the West 
Indies, the Anti-Slavery feeling was allowed, to a great extent, to die 
out. It is true, a British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was formed, 
with a view to work for emancipation in other countries, which Society 
retained in affiliation most, if not all, the old Anti-Slavery organiza- 
tions previously exist'ug; but tiie operations of this Society were, for a 
long time, very ineffective, and its influcpce for good was, in this coun- 
try, as we know, scarcely appreciable. 'Nevertheless, there were those, 
in various parts of the United Kingdom, who watched the progress of 
the cause in America with the deepest solicitude, and who did all they 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 153 

could to promote it. The number of this class of persons was continu- 
ally increased, and their power enhanced by the Anti-Slavery influences 
that were all the time going forth from this country. American Anti- 
Slavery papers were received and read^and new light was thus imparted. 
Much, also, was done by the visits of American AbolitionistsT^ Your 
several visits, Mr. Chairman, exerted, as is well known, a strong influ- 
ence in this behalf. And when with your labors were combined those of 
George Thompson, Frederick Douglass, Henry C. Wright, and James 
N. BuFFUM,as was the case during the Free Church agitation, the eflect 
was especially salutary. That agitation has ceased some time since, and 
the cry of " send back that money " is no longer heard ; but the Anti- 
Slavery truth that was uttered during that controversy was seed sown on 
good ground, which to this day has not ceased to bring forth wholesome 
fruit. 

Since then, other advocates of the cause, equally zealous and faithful, 
have been at work. William Wells Brown has traversed the country 
from one end to the other, delivering lectures in the chief towns and 
cities, and every where awakening a deep feeling of interest in the Anti- 
Slavery movement. Himself a colored man and a fugitive slave, and 
having been long and successfully at work in the lecturing field in this 
country, and knowing the cause and its chief friends intimately, he was 
well qualified to interest the hearts of the English people, and to 
enlighten them on all points pertaining to the question. 

Rev. Edward IMatthews, the same that was so cruelly lynched by the 
slaveholders of Kentucky, some three years since, has been laboring 
in England as an agent of the Baptist Free (Anti-Slavery) Missionary 
Society. In zeal and devotedness, Mr. Matthews is nothing inferior to 
Mr. Brown. I had occasion to see a good deal of him when abroad, and 
had the pleasure of attending several meetings in his company, and can 
testify from what I saw and heard, and what I learned from other 
sources, to the highly beneficial effect of his labors upon the Anti- 
Slavery cause. 

William and Ellen Craft, who have been in England since the pas- 
sage of the Fugitive Slave Law, have also rendered valuable service to 
our movement. The story of their remarkable escape from Slavery, 
v/hich the former has related publicly to large audiences, and both pri- 
vately to smaller circles, has made a profound and abiding impression. 

At this moment. Professor Allen and his wife are engaged in the same 
good work. Mr. Allen, it is well known, had to fly his country for hav- 
ing had the temerity to marry a white wife. The mob, stimulated by a 
corrupt press, and countenanced by rnen high in religious position, was 

16 



154 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

excited against him, and it was not without great personal peril that he 
escaped their fury. Mr. Allen is now travelling from city to city, telling 
his story to British audiences. He is a gentleman, in the best sense of 
that word, well educated, and an able speaker, and his lectures, and 
especially what he will have to say of our venomous prejudice against 
color, illustrated as it will be by his own case, will not fail to swell the 
tide of agitation that is now surging against, and helping to sweep away 
the foundations of our American slave system. 

^George Thojipson, too, to whose eloquent voice the cause of Free- 
dom is so much indebted on both sides of the water, has again entered 
the field as a lecturer. At the last intelligence, he was engaged to 
hold a series of meetings in Manchester, and other towns in the manu- 
facturing districts, and had it in contemplation during the winter and 
coming spring to visit the chief cities of the kingdom, with the view of 
arousing the people's attention and enlightening their minds on the sub- 
ject of American Slavery. Who that has ever heard his powerful ap- 
peals on this topic, can doubt of the great good to be accomplished by his 
labors .'' 

Beside those public champions, there are those who move in the pri- 
vate walks of life, who have contributed in a large measure to bring 
about the active state of feeling now existing in England — a feeling, 
too, which I may add is not confined to England, but which e.xtends to 
some of the nations on the continent. It is sufficient, under this head, 
that I mention the names of Mrs. Follen and Mrs. Maria W. Chapman. 
These ladies, (the former residing in London, and the latter in Paris,) 
are indefatigable in their devotion to the cause. Their drawing-rooms 
are ever open to assemblies collected for Anti-Slavery conversation and 
conference, and their pens are never idle in the work. By private let- 
ters, by articles for the press, and by direct personal intercourse with 
people moving in influential circles, they are all the time contributing to 
the advancement of our cause in the most effective manner. 

Nothing, however, has contributed so much to interest and excite the 
people of England on this subject, as Mrs. Stowe's wonderful tale of 
" Uncle Tom." As you know, nearly a million copies of this work have 
been published in that country. These have been read by people of 
all classes, high and low, rich and poor, and the impression produced 
has been most profound. The hearts of old Abolitionists have been 
revived, and new ones have been added to the ranks. The good done 
by the book cannot be estimated, "and its work is not yet accomplished. 
There, as well as here, it is still on its errand of mercy. 
^/Mrs. Stowe's visit to England, too, was another source of advantage 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 155 

to the cause. Besides her direct personal influence, she was the means 
of Anti-Slavery meetings being held, and of Anti-Slavery speeches 
being delivered, that otherwise would never have been thought of. Her 
presence, and the eclat with which she was every where received, in- 
creased the demand for her book, kept up the public interest in the sub- 
ject, and greatly enhanced the good impression that had previously been 
produced. 

I have thus far been speaking chiefly of American influences that 
have been at work on the other side of the water. I am not unmindful, 
however, of the British agencies that have been in operation at the same 
time. The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society I have already 
referred to, intimating, however, that in times past, their operations had 
not always been very effective. I would not revive old controversies, or 
refer unnecessarily to unpleasant things that are past, but it is a matter 
of historical fact, that for years, the influence which this Society exerted 
was of very little advantage to the Anti-Slavery cause. Its affairs 
were administered by men, some of whom were persons of circum- 
scribed views and strong religious prejudices. Its newspaper organ was 
conducted in an exclusive spirit, and by an editor who seemed incapable 
of appreciating the broad and liberal genius of the Anti-Slavery enter- 
prise. Something more than a year since, however, a change took 
place, that has exerted a happy influence on the usefulness of the Soci- 
ety. Louis A. Chamerovzow, Esq., was appointed Secretary and ex- 
officio editor of the Anti-Slavery Reporter, in place of John Scoble, Esq., 
resigned. Mr. Chamerovzow is a man of ability, of enlarged and libe- 
ral views, and an earnest Abolitionist. Under his management, the Anti- 
Slavery Reporter has undergone an immediate change for the better. 
New life has been infused into its columns, and added usefulness im- 
parted to its circulation. At the same time, better counsels have seemed 
to prevail in the Committee, and for the year past, the Society has man- 
ifested such signs of liberality and returning life, as to warrant the hope, 
on the part of some of our friends, of its becoming such an instrumen- 
tality as will be entitled to the confidence and cooperation of all true 
Abolitionists. . 

Beside the British and Foreign Society, there are provincial organiza- 
tions in different parts of the kingdom, that have contributed their part 
to bring about the state of feeling at present existing. Principal among 
these is the Bristol' and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. In thor- 
oughness of principle, consistency of action, and in the zeal and Anti- 
Slavery intelligence of its members, this Society will compare well with 
any other, on either side of the water. Then, there are the old Anti- 



156 /TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

Slavery organizations at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth; and at Belfast, 
Dublin, and Cork, all of which have been unswerving in their devotion 
to the cause. Lately, a new Society has been formed at^eeds, that 
has commenced its career with a busy activity ; and, still more recently, 
another at Bridgwater, and a third at Manchester, both of which give 
promise of being efficient helpers in the good work. 

These organizations are al^ more or less in sympathy with the Amer- 
ican Anti-Sluvery Society. >■ Their mission is, by agitation and the diffu- 
sion of light, to elevate and strengthen the tone of public sentiment in 
Entrland on the subject of Slavery, and to bring this public sentiment to 
bear, in all proper and available ways, upon the people of this country, 
for the abolition of the evil. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the most 
active members of these Societies are women, and that they do most of 
the work. They write letters, collect funds, prepare the contributions 
for the Bazaars, and, in short, do the main part of all the work that is 
performed. The amount of labor accomplished by some of these ladies 
is really quite remarkable. / 

Among the chief Anti-Slavery instrumentalities abroad should be 
mentioned the Anti-Slavery Advocate, published in London. This 
paper was started a little more than a year ago. It is a small sheet, 
and only appears once a month, but it is one of the most readable and 
instructive prints in circulation. Its articles are almost all original, and 
are prepared with sound judgment and marked good taste. It has 
many readers, and their number is still increasing; so is also the influ- 
ence of the paper. The impression it has already produced in favor of 
thorough Abolitionism has been distinctly felt on both sides of the water, 
and its career of usefulness has only just begun. 

Lately, a new paper has been started, in the city of Manchester, 
called the Anti-Slavenj Watchmdfi. It is edited by F. W. Chesson, 
Esq., a young man of fine talents, ardent Anti-Slavery zeal, and truly 
liberal spirit. The paper exhibits in its columns the characteristics of 
its editor, and whether regarded as a proof of the progress already made 
by radical Anti-Slavery principles, or as a sign of what is destined yet 
to be accomplished, its appearance at this time is truly cheering. 

There are other papers in England, not specifically devoted to the 
cause, that do a great deal of Anti-Slavery work. Indeed, this may be 
said of the British press generally; but there arp two journals, of which 
it is more especially true. One is the London Morning Advertiser., 
and the other the London Daily Neivs. The former is edited by a man 
of distinguished ability and uncompromising fidelity on the Slavery 
question. His articles on this subject are written with characteristic 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 157 

vigor; and when it is stated that his paper is inferior in circulation only 
lo that of the Times, it will be seen how greatly our caiise is indebted 
to his agency. The Daily Neios enjoys a reputation for soundness of 
judgment and correctness and extent of information, that makes it second 
to no other paper in England in the control it exerts over the minds of 
intelligent and influential people. Its articles on American Slavery 
show a familiar acquaintance with the subject. They are statesmanlike 
in their scope, and at the same time thorough in their Anti-Slavery 
spirit. 

In enumerating the various Anti-Slavery agencies in England, I 
must not omit to mention the Tract enterprise of Wilson Armistead.'-^ 
Mr. Armistead is a member of the Society of Friends, living in Leeds. 
He published, some years since, a large octavo volume, entitled a "Tri- 
bute to the Negro," and since then he has been issuing, at irregular 
but frequent intervals, a series of valuable Anti-Slavery Tracts. This 
series embraces upwards of eighty different varieties, running from two 
to twenty pages each. A half a million of these Tracts have already 
been published, and more are forthcoming. They are circulated by sale 
and gratuitous distribution, and are finding their way all over the king- 
dom. Such broadcast dissemination of Anti-Slavery truth cannot fail to 
bring forth fruit abundantly in the cause of Humanity and Justice. 

Of course, in this sketch, I only enumerate the Anti-Slavery agencies 
that fell within my own purview, or that claimed my particular atten- 
tion. That there are others, many others, at work abroad, which I have 
not enumerated or alluded to, will be readily inferred. It has been 
owing, however, to influences such as I have specified, that the present 
state of Anti-Slavery feeling has obtained prevalence in Great Britain. 
This feeling is, every day, under the operation of the same influences, 
becoming deeper and more widely extended. The work of agitation is 
going on in England in the same way as in this country, and with the 
same results. Its effect is seen in all the forms in which public senti- 
ment is wont to manifest itself. It is visible in the literature of the coun- 
try, in the policy of the government, in the action of religious bodies, 
and shows itself in a great variety of ways, in the ordinary intercourse 
of private life. The influence it exerts- in this country, Mr. Chairman, 
we know to be most beneficent. It cheers the hearts and strengthens 
the hands of Abolitionists, and disturbs none but slaveholders and their 
abettors. None object to it but those who are interested either in the 
support or excuse of Slavery; and this is only a proof of its adaptation 
to its purpose, and an argument in its favor. 

Let, then, our brethren on the other side of the water go on in the 



158 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

work in which they have done so well. Let them continue their labor 
of diffusinfT light throughout the country, and multiplying friends to the 
cause, assured that all the aid, moral and material, that they can bring to 
bear for its support, will be hailed with the liveliest joy by the friends of 
Freedom on this side the water, and at the same time will be helping to 
brino- on the day of final and unconditional Emancipation. 

The President, (Mr, Garrison,) said, in reference to the discussion 
which had preceded the remarks of Mr. McKim, that he thought it would 
be obvious to all present, that there had been a very jealous desire, on 
the one hand, not to restrict individual freedom of thought, and on the 
other, to prevent the Society from losing sight of its legitimate object. 
No one who had spoken doubted the honesty and sincerity of any other 
speaker on that platform; no one suspected any other of attempting 
to draw the meeting aside from its appropriate work ; and nothing but 
kindness and the best spirit had prevailed in the bosoms of those who 
had addressed the audience. 

Mrs. MoTT said, she thought it was due to herself to say, that she 
could not understand what Mr. Phillips wished to protest against in her re- 
marks. She only mentioned her sentiment incidentally, and there left it. 

Mr. Phillips said that his protest was not against the speech of Mrs. 
Mott of the night previous, although he thought she overstepped the 
limits of " incidentally ; " it was against the theory she proposed that 
morning, where she spoke of their bearing with each other from mutual 
love. He (Mr. P.) did not suppose the question to be one of toleration 
or mutual love. He had no objection to any question or argument which 
she might introduce; but he felt that it was opposed to the theory of the 
Society, and unjust to the general public, whom they invited to attend 
their meetings, and to contribute to their funds, for them now to spend 
their time in discussions on the Bible, or the Sabbath, or any theological 
question. He contended that such a course was " keeping the promise 
to the ear, and breaking it to the hope." Whenever they entered upon 
such topics, their discussions would not be within the limit they had 
originally prescribed to themselves. 

Mrs. Mott. There has not been a word from me advocating the pro- 
priety of discussing the Bible, the Sabbath, Total Depravity, the Church, 
or any other doctrine, only as far as they shall be incidentally introduced 
as tending to strengthen the hands of the slaveholders. 
Mr. Phillips. I certainly misunderstood her. 

Mr. Garrison. I think we are all agreed. There is no difference 
between us. 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 159 

The following Resolutions on the Colonization Society were reported 
from the Business Committee: — 

Resolved, That in regard to the Colonization enterprise, we make no issue on any of 
the following points — whether Africa ought not to be reclaimed from barbarism and 
idolatry ; nor whether black missionaries are not better adapted to its climate than 
white ones ; nor whether it is wrong to assist voluntary emigration to the shores of 
that continent ; nor whether the slave trade has not been crippled, or driven from its 
localities by the colonics already established ; nor whether the settlement of Liberia 
has not attained, in the same period, as high a position as did the Plymouth or 
Jamestown colony ; nor whether the condition of the free colored people in this land 
is not one of great hardship, and surrounded by many afflicting circumstances; nor 
whether, to those who are held in bondage, exile, with penniless freedom, is not 
preferable to a life of chattelized servitude ; but it is, what are the doctrines, 
designs and measures of the American Colonization Society, and is it worthy of the 
countenance and support of a civilized and Christian people ? 

Resolved, That we abhor and repudiate the Colonization Society, for the following 
among other reasons: — (1.) Because it sanctions the infernal doctrine, that man 
can rightfully hold property in his fellow-man — (2.) Because it is managed and 
controlled by slaveholders, whose aim is to give quietude, security and value to the 
slave system, by the removal of the free blacks — (3.) Because it declares that the 
leprous spirit of complexional prejudice is natural, and not to be removed even by 
the operations of the Holy Spirit upon the heart — (4.) Because it is the bitter, ma- 
lignant and active enemy of the Anti-Slavery enterprise — (5.) Because it stimulates 
and sanctions the enactment of soul-crushing laws and prescriptive edicts against our 
free colored population, under the pressure of which they shall find it impossible to 
stand erect on this their native soil, and may therefore be induced to emigrate to 
Africa — (6.) Because the motives it avows, the sentiments it inculcates, the means 
it uses, the measures it sanctions, are base, cruel, demoniacal — and, (7.) Because, 
from its organization to the present time, the objects of its professed commiseration 
have unceasingly borne the sti'ongest testimony against it, as uncalled for, hateful, 
persecuting, and unnatural. 

As the time had expired for which Sansom Hall was engaged, the 
Society adjourned, to meet, without delay, at the hall corner of Ninth 
and Arch streets. 



Reassembled according to adjournment, the President in the chair. 

The Resolutions on Colonization being taken up, Giles B. Stebbins 
spoke in their support, briefly, but .to the point. 

J. J. Kelly, Esther Moore, Josiah Bond, Samuel J. May, Harriet 
Hood, Charles C. Burleigh, Elizabeth Williams, Sojourner Truth, Jarena 
Lee, Mr. Glasgow, and James Walker, offered brief but emphatic and 
convincing remarks in support of the Resolutions, and, the question be- 



160 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

inf called for, a strong and unanimous vote was given in their favor, 
and against the American Colonization Society. 

The question was called for on the remaining Resolutions, and action 
hcing taken upon them, separately, they were adopted. 

Rev. Samuel J. May then came forward and said : 

SPEECH OF REV. SAMUEL J. MAY. 

It was my earnest hope, Mr. President, that, in the record, which 
is to go down to posterity, of the progress of the cause of impartial 
liberty, during the twenty years that have passed since the forma- 
tion of this Society, a certain statement, that has gone the round of 
the newspapers, would have been preserved as a veritable fact. I allude 
to the statement that the Unitarian Church of St. Louis, as a body, one 
and all, had emancipated each and every one of their slaves. But, I 
am grieved to say, it is not true. I hold in my hands a paper — the 
Christian Register, published in Boston — in which the minister of that 
St. Louis Church, Rev. Mr. Eliot, declares that no such deed of right- 
eousness and mercy has been done by the people, to whom he ministers. 
That gentleman is regarded by the denomination, to which he and I 
belong, as one of the most successful expositors of our most precious 
faith. But he tells us the members of his church have not proclaimed 
liberty to their captives, have not set their bondmen free. Not only so, 
but he adds, " I know of instances, in my own Society, in which I would 
not advise the present emancipation of those held in bondage." Still 
further, he goes on to repeat the opinion which has so often been shown 
to be foolish as well as untrue, that the movements of the friends of 
liberty in the free States have retarded, rather than expedited, the deliv- 
erance of the enslaved. 

The letter, Sir, is too long to be read in this, the last half hour of our 
meeting. I shall probably notice it, more at length, elsewhere. I am 
happy to assure you, that, in other respects, the letter is kindly and cour- 
teously worded. But, Sii", in these respects, does it not wound us to the 
quick, stab us to the heart ? And yet. Sir, more even than the injustice 
he has done to us and our labors, do I deplore the lamentable ignorance 
he evinces of the principles of the Society, which he thus ventures to 
condemn so utterly. He does not even understand our primal doctrine 
— immediate emancipation. He has not yet come to perceive that the 
first thing to be done for the improvement and elevation of the enslaved, 
is to recognise and secure to them their rights as human beings. If he 
had, he would not hesitate to concede that what must first be done for 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 161 

them, should be done without delay — done immediately. He probably 
understands, as many others understood twenty years ago, that we 
demand for the enslaved, that they shall be cut loose from all relations 
to those who have been their oppressors, set free from all constraint, 
abandoned to themselves. But how often have we repudiated such an 
idea ! We have demanded for the objects of our compassion, something 
more and much better. Emancipation from chattel slavery — the 
recognition of their rights as human beings — is only the beginning of 
the work of their redemption. They must be guided, helped, educated 
after they have been set free. (Applause.) 

Mr. President, I may not detain you and the meeting longer on this 
subject, at this late hour. Of course, the gentleman, to whose letter I 
refer, must desire that the contents of his letter should be known to 
those whom he condemns. I therefore have manifested, as I have meant, 
no unkindness to him, in communicating to you the substance of his 
letter. But I must. Sir, in connection with this sad record, add an 
expression of my heartfelt regret, that a man who is a minister of 
religion of that denomination which is so distinguished for its professions 
of regard for humanity, should have penned such an epistle as this. I 
do not ask, I do not think that a minister of our denomination should be 
measured and judged, in his action or his indifference to the Anti-Slavery 
cause, by the same standard that might be applied to other religionists. 
More ought to be expected, more demanded of Unitarians in behalf of 
humanity, than of others ; and I feel the keenest disappointment, that 
that glorious announcement respecting the Church in St. Louis is not a 
fact, but a misrepresentation. God grant, that ere another decade meet- 
ing of this Society shall be called together, not only one but all the 
Unitarian (humanitarian) Churches in the land shall have wiped from 
their skirts the damning stain of Slavery ! and their glorious example he 
emulated by every other church that presumes to call itself Christian ! 

Mr. Garrison offered the following Resolution : — 

Whereas, among tlie endless devices of the pro-slavery spirit, is the attempt to 
divert attention from the great issue now before the country, and to baffle the opera- 
tions of tiiis Society, by raising against it the most false and malignant outcries — 
such as, that it is an Anti-Sabbath, an Anti-Bible, an Anti-Government, and an 
Infidel Society, &c. &c. ; therefore, 

Resolved, That the only views which are sanctioned and promulgated by the 
American Anti-Slavery Society, on these topics, are — That it is lawful on the Sab- 
batii day to remember the millions of our fellow-countrymen who have been plunged 
into the horrible pit of Slavery, and to combine to extricate them therefrom : — That 



162 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

the Bible is most foully and wickecUy perverted, by the great body of the American 
cleriiy, to the sanction and support of American Slavery: — That any Government 
which makes merchandise of human beings, and hunts fugitive slaves, is to be exe- 
crated and repudiated for ever: — That the only Infidelity which the Society 
endorses is that which breaks the yoke and lets the oppressed go free, — and the only 
Christianity which it rejects as spurious, is that which vindicates Slavery as compat- 
ible with justice, humanity, and the love of God. 

After brief remarks by Messrs. George Sunter, Joseph Barker, 
and C. C. Burleigh, the Resolution was unanimously adopted. 

J. M. McKiBi stated the facts in reference to the protracted and 
harassing prosecutions to which Daniel Kauffman and Stephen F. Weak- 
ley, of Cumberland county, had been subjected during the past six 
years, for harboring a family of alleged fugitive slaves, resulting in the 
conviction of Mr. Kauffman, and the acquittal of Mr. "Weakley, in the 
United States Circuit Court, after which, Judge Grier granted a new trial 
in the case of Mr. Weakley. Mr. McKim then read a letter from Mr. 
W., stating that he had, by advice of his counsel and friends, settled the 
suit by the payment of a large sum, and desiring the aid of all who 
sympathised with him in bearing this burden. Mr. McKim appealed to 
all present to assist individually this worthy and suffering man. 

The Secretaries of the American Anti-Slavery Society were instructed 
to obtain, if practicable, the original copy of the Declaration of Senti- 
ments, as engrossed on parchment by Dr. Abraham L. Cox. 

LucRETiA MoTT urged attention to that portion of the Declaration of 
Sentiments, which relates to our giving the preference to the products of 
free labor over those o{ si ace labor. She begged the friends to con- 
sider also, whether they did not compromise their principles by aiding in 
the purchase of individual slaves, thereby enabling the slaveholder per- 
haps to buy two fresh slaves in the place of the one sold. 

The PRESIDE^•T. I wish to suggest to friends the importance of once 
more petitioning Congress for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of 
Columbia, and for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law ; and especi- 
ally as our friend Gerrit Smith is to be an additional member of that 
body. It will be a legitimate mode of bringing up the subject afresh, 
and will, I think, produce a good deal of agitation. I merely suggest 
this as one means for advancing our cause. 

Beloved friends, and faithful coadjutors, there are none in this coun- 
try, who desire so longingly to know when the jubilee is to come as those 
who are in bonds ; and, next to them, I am sure we are most desirous to 
know when that glorious event will come to pass. Shall we all of us, 
or any of us, be spared, here on the earth, to witness it ? God only 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 163 

knows. I trust many of us will. But, whether we shall see it here or 
not, we have no doubt of its coming. All we have to do is to go on — 
be uncompromising in our principles, find out what our duty is, faithfully 
discharge it, and leave the event in the hands of an all-wise God. 

Edmund Quincy. I rise. Sir, to express the gratitude we all feel for 
the generous hospitality which has been extended to us by the friends in 
Philadelphia, and for the great kindness with which they have increased 
the pleasure of our temporary residence here. I move you, Sir, that we 
now adjourn. 

S. J. May. In accordance with the laws of our physical being, it is 
not to be expected that we shall ever meet together again on an occasion 
like this. Let me say, then, in parting, that 

" 'Tis not the whole of life to live, 
Nor all of death to die " : — 

That life is to be measured, not by the number of days or years we 
may be permitted to remain here, but by the number of good deeds we 
do, and the true and noble words we utter ; that it matters not whether 
our lives be narrowed to a span, or length of days be given to us, but 
that it matters everything, that while we do live, we live in deed, in truth, 
in spirit, and in love to God and our fellow-men. (Applause.) 
The Convention then adjourned, sine die. 

Thus ended a meeting, which, for ability in the discussions, a world- 
wide spirit of liberality on the part of the speakers, deep and growing 
interest on the part of all present, fidelity to the cause of the enslaved, 
and a spirit of undisturbed and unfaltering reliance upon the truth of 
God, has scarcely been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed, by any 
in the history of the Anti-Slavery enterprise. 

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, President 

Samuel May, Jr., 

Oliver Johnson, 

Cyrus M. Burleigh, )> Secretaries. 

Sarah Pugh, 

Giles B. Stebbins, 



. i 



APPENDIX. 



Btilaratitn nf Itnttmints 

OF THE 

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 

ADOPTED IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, DEC. 6, 1833. 

The Convention assembled in the city of Philadelphia, to organize a Na- 
tional Anti-Slavery Society, promptly seize the opportunity to promulgate 
the following DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS, as cherislied by them in 
relation to the enslavement of one sixth portion of the American people. 

More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of patriots convened 
in this place, to devise measures for the deliverance of this country from a 
foreign yoke. The corner-stone upon which they founded the Temple of 
Freedom was broadly this — " that all men are created equal ; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness." At the sound of their 
£rumpet-call, three millions of people rose up as from the sleep of death, 
and rushed to the strife of blood ; deeming it more glorious to die instantly 
as freemen, than desirable to live one hour as slaves. Thoy were few in 
number — poor in resources ; but the honest conviction that Truth, Justice 
and Right were on their side, made them invincible. 

We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, without 
which that of our fathers is incomplete ; and which, for its magnitude, 
solemnity, and probable results upon the destiny of the world, as far tran- 
scends theirs as moral truth does physical force. 

In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decision of purpose, in 
intrepidity of action, in steadfastness of faith, in sincerity of spirit, we 
would not be inferior to them. 

Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors, and to 
spill human blood like water in order to be free. Ours forbid the doing of 
evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, and to entreat the oppressed 

17 



166 APPENDIX. 

to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for deliverance from bondage ; re- 
lying solely upon those which are spiritual, and mighty through God to the 
pulling down of strongholds. 

Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling iij arms — 
the hostile array — the mortal encounter. Ours shall be such only as the 
opposition of moral purity to moral corruption — the destruction of error by 
the potency of truth — the overthrow of prejudice by the power of love — 
and the abolition of Slavery by the sjjirit of repentance. 

Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in comparison vi-ith the 
wrongs and suflferings of those for whom wo plead. Our fathers were 
never slaves — never bought and sold like cattle — never shut out from the 
light of knowledge and religion — never subjected to the lash of brutal task- 
masters. 

But those for Avhose emancipation we are striving — constituting, at the 
ipresent time, at least one sixth part of our countrymen — are recognised by 
rthe law, and treated by their fellow-beings, as marketable commodities, as 
goods and chattels, as brute beasts ; are plundered daily of the fruits of 
their toil without redress ; really enjoy no constitutional nor legal pro- 
tection from licentious and murderous outrages upon their persons ; are 
ruthlessly torn asunder — the tender babe from the arms of its frantic 
mother — the heart-broken wife from her weeping husband — at the caprice or 
pleasure of irresponsible tyrants. For the crime of having a dark com- 
plexion, they suffer the pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the 
ignominy of brutal servitude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws 
expressly enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence. 

These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more than two 
millions of our people, the proof of which may be found in thousands of 
indisputable facts, and in the laws of the slaveholding States. 

Hence we maintain, — that in view of the civil and religious privileges of 
this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled by any other on the 
face of the earth ; and, therefore. 

That it is bound to i-epent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, to break 
every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free. 

We further maintain, — that no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his 
brother — to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as a piece of mer- 
chandize — to keep back his hire by fraud — or to brutalize his mind by 
denying him tlie means of intellectual, social, and moral improvement. 

The riglit to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it is to usurp the 
prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own body — to the pro- 
ducts of his own labor — to the protection of law, and to the common 
advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and 
•Bubject him to servitude. Surely the sin is as great to enslave an American 
as an African. 

Therefore we believe and affirm — That there is no difference, in principle, 
between the African slave trade and xVinerican Slavery : 

That every American citizen, who retains a human being in involuntary 



DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS. 167 

boKclage as his property, is, according to Scripture, (Ex. xxi. IG.) a man- 

STEALER : 

That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under the 
protection of the law : 

That if they had lived from the tiuie of Pharaoh down to the present period, 
and hud been entailed through successive generations, their right to be free 
could never have been alienated, but their claims would have constantly- 
risen in solemnity : 

That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right of Slavery, 
ai-e therefore, before God, utterly null and void : being an audacious usurpa- 
tion of the Divine prerogative, a daring infringement on the law of nature, 
a base overthrow of the very foundations of the social compact, a complete 
extinction of all the relations, endearments, and obligations of mankind, 
and a presumptuous ti-ansgression of all the holy commandments — and that 
therefore they ought instantly to be abrogated. 

We further believe and affirm — that all persons of color who possess the 
qualifications which are demanded of others, ought to be admitted forthwith 
to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and the exercise of the same pre- 
rogatives, as others ; and that the paths of preferment, of Avealth, and of in- 
telligence, should be opened as widely to them as to persons of a white 
complexion. 

We maintain that no compensation should be given to the planters 
emancipating their slaves ; 

Because it would be a surrender of the great fundamental principle, that 
man cannot hold property in man ; 

Because Slavery is a crijie, and therefore is not an article to be sold ; 

Because the holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of what they 
claim ; freeing the slaves is not depriving them of property, but restoring it 
to its rightful owners ; it is not wronging the master, but righting the 
slave — restoring him to himself; 

Because immediate and general emancipation would only destroy 'nomi- 
nal, not real property ; it would not amputate a limb or break a bone of the 
slaves, but, by infusing motives into their breasts, would make them doubly 
valuable to the masters as free laborers ; and 

Because, if compensation is to be given at all, it should be given to the 
outraged and guiltless slaves, and not to those who have plundered and 
abused them. 

We regard as delusive, cruel, and dangerous, any scheme of expatriation, 
which pretends to aid, either directly or indirectly, in the emancipation of 
the slaves, or to be a substitute for the immediate and total abolition of 
Slavei'y. 

We fully and unanimously recognise the sovereignty of each State, to 
legislate exclusively on the subject of the Slavery which is tolerated within its 
limits ; we concede that Congress, under the present national compact, has no 
right to interfere with any of the slave States, in relation to this momentous 
subject : 



158 APPENDIX. 

But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly bound, to 
suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States, and to abolish 
Slavery in those portions of our territory which the Constitution has placed 
under its exclusive jurisdiction. 

We also maintain tliat there are, at the present time, the highest obliga- 
tions resting upon the peoi>la of the free States, to remove Slavery by moral 
and political action, as prescribed in the Constitution of the United States. 
They are now living under a pledge of their tremendous physical force, to 
fasten the galling fetters of tyranny upon the limbs of millions in the 
Southern States ; they are liable to be called at any moment to suppress 
a general insurrection of the slaves ; they authorize the slave-owner to 
vote on three-fifths of his slaves as property, and thus enable him to perpet- 
uate his oppression ; they support a standing army at the South for its 
protection ; and they seize the slave who has escaped into their territories, 
and send him back to be tortured by an enraged master or a brutal driver. 
This relation to Slavery is criminal and full of danger ; it must be broken up. 

These are our views and principles — these our designs and measures. 
With entire confidence in the overruling justice of God, we plant ourselves 
upon the Declaration of our Independence and the truths of divine revelation 
as upon the Everlasting Rock. 

We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every city, town, 
and village, in our land. 

We shall send forth agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance, of warn- 
ing, of entreaty and rebuke. 

We shall circulate, unsparingly and extensively, Anti-Slavery tracts and 
periodicals. 

We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the suffering and 
the dumb. 

We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all participation in 
the guilt of Slavery. r 

AVe shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of slaves, by 
giving a preference to their productions : and 

We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole nation to speedy 
repentance. 

Our trust for victory is solely in God. We may be personally defeated, 
but our principles never. Truth, Justice, Reason, Humanity, must and 
will gloriously triumph. Already a host is coming up to the help of the Lord 
against the mighty, and the prospect before us is full of encouragement. 

Submitting this DECLARATION to the candid examination of the people 
of this country, and of the friends of Liberty throughout the world, we 
hereby affix our signatures to it ; pledging ourselves that, under the guidance 
and by the help of Almighty God, we will do all that in us lies, consistently 
with this Declaration of our principles, to overthrow the most execrable 
system of Slavery that has ever been witnessed upon earth — to deliver our 
land from its deadliest curse — to wipe out the foulest stain which rests upon 
our national escutcheon — and to secure to the colored population of the 



DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS 



169 



United States all the rights and privileges which belong to them as men, 
and as Americans — come what may to our persons, our interests, or our 
reputation — whether we live to witness the triumph of Liberty, Justice, and 
IIuiiANiTY, or perish untimely as martyrs in this great, benevolent, and holy 
cause. 

Done at Philadelphia, the Gth day of December, A. D. 1833. 



DAVtD THCESTON, 
NATHAN WINSLOW, 
JOSEPH SOUTH WICK, 
JAiMES F. OTIS, 
ISAAC WINSLOW, 
DAVID CAMBELL, 
ORSON S. MURRAY, 
DANIEL S. SOUTHxAIAYD, 
EFFINGHAM L. CAPRON, 
JOSHUA COFFIN, 
AMOS A. PHELPS, 
JOHN G. WHITTIER, 
HORACE P.WAKEFIELD, 
JAMES G. BARBADOES, 
DAVID T. KIMBALL, Jr., 
DANIEL E. JEWETT, 
JOHN REID CAMBELL, 
NATHANIEL SOUTHARD, 
ARNOLD BUFFUM, 
WILLIAM GREEN, Jr., 
ABRAHAM L. COX, 
WILLIAM GOODELL, 
•ELIZUR WRIGHT, Jr., 
•CHARLES W. DENISON, 
JOHN FROST, 
•GEORGE BOURNE, 
EVAN LEWIS, 
EDWIN A. ATLEE, 
ROBERT PURVIS, 
JAMES McCRUMMELL, 
THOMAS SHIPLEY, 



BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL, 
DAVID JONES, 
ENOCH MACK, 2d, 
JAMES LOUCHE AD, 
JOHN McCULLOUGH, 
EDWIN P. ATLEE, 
JAMES M. McKIM, 
WM. LLOYD GARRISON, 
PtAY POTTER, 
JOHN PRENTICE, 
GEORGE W. BENSON, 
SA^IUEL JOSEPH MAY, 
ALPHEUS KINGSLEY, Jr., 
EDWIN A. STILLMAN, 
SIMEON SMITH JOCELYN, 
ROBERT BERNARD HALL, 
BERIAH GREEN, 
LEWIS TAPPAN, 
JOHN RANKIN, 
AARON VICKERS, 
JOHN R. SLEEPER, 
LUCIUS GILLINGHAM, 
JOHN SHARP, Jr., 
JAMES MOTT, 
JAMES WHITE, 
JONATHAN PARKHURST, 
CHALKLEY GILLINGHAM, 
JOHN M. STERLING, 
MILTON SUTLIFF, 
LEVI SUTLIFF, 
THOMAS WHITSON. 



170 APPENDIX. 

LETTER FROM HON. GEORGE W. JULIAK 

Centretille, Ind., Nov. 20, 1853. 
Wm. Lloyd Garrison : 

Dear Sir — I have received your letter of the 10th instant, inviting me to 
be present at the twentieth Anniversary of the formation of the American 
Anti-Slavery Society, to be held in Philadelphia, on the 3d and 4th December 
next. For this distinguished and unmerited honor, please accept my thanks. 
Most gladly would I be with you, and avail myself of the catholic invitation 
of your Society, to occupy its platform, " untrammeled in regard to thought 
or speech." Nothing could afford me more heartfelt gratification than to 
imbibe afresh the resolute purpose and martyr spirit of our great movement, 
by a friendly communion with its heroes ; and it is therefore with unfeigned 
regret that I find myself precluded by other engagements from attending 
your celebration. 

The object of your Society is " the speedy and eternal overthrow of chattel 
slavery in our land." The magnitude of such a work requires a faith in 
those who undertake it commensurate with its achievement. They must 
have faith in Providence, in Rectitude, in the triumph of the Right, through 
the sincere strivings of men. All good causes lag and languish through 
lack of this faith ; through a lurking suspicion which finds its way into our 
hearts, that injustice is a necessity under the government of the Most High. 
If Ave really believe in the truths to which we subscribe in words ; if, in our 
judgment, we could find " but one strong thing in this earth, the just thing, 
the true thing; " if we could fully realize that justice is omnipotent, and 
that Slavery, and every other refuge of lies, rmist perish, because opposed to 
the beneficent ordainmcnts of the Universe ; and if men every Avhere would 
acknowledge and practically apply these truths, humanity would be redeemed 
from its woes, and the millennial day would be ushered in upon the world. 
Here lies the grand difficulty with our movement. There are even many 
professedly Anti-Slavery men, who, I believe, are scarcely half converted, 
who manifest no confidence in the power of truths they profess, by efforts or 
sacrifices for their advancement, and whose hearts falter and grow cold when 
the signs of promise are all around their pathway. For myself, I believe the 
Providence of God, availing itself of the blindness and wickedness of men, 
is hastening on a great crisis in the history of our country, and that the 
cause in which we are engaged is passing through a transition period, from a 
feeble and unpopular, to a powerful and dominant movement, among the 
great forces that are shaking the world. 

This opinion is based upon facts which, to some, indicate the decline of 
free principles. The passage of the Compromise measures, now more than 
three years since, and the decree which simultaneously went forth that there 
is no higher law than the wicked enactments of men, the preaching of mul- 
titudinous heaps of lower law sermons, and the joining hands of Castle 
Garden politicians and atheistical Doctors of Divinity in the endeavor to 
dethrone Jehovah and inaugurate the Devil in his stead ; the holding of grand 



LETTERS 



171 



Union meetings throughout the country, after the Union had been already 
saved by the plasters and nostrums of its political doctors ; the calling out 
of the Army and Navy by the federal authorities to assist in the return of a 
fugitive slave, and the effort to drag from the gi'aveof tyranny, and foist into 
our jurisprudence, the infernal doctrine of constructive treason ; the cold- 
blooded conspiracy of the Whig and Democratic parties, last year, at Balti- 
more, against Republicanism, Humanity, and God ; the recent case of John 
Freeman, at Indianapolis, and the reeking villany of the Marshal of Indiana, 
in stripping the body of his victim, so that a Christless squad of perjured 
miscreants and kidnappers might swear according to the pattern, which they 
did ; the still more recent, case of William Thomas, at Wilkesbarre, set on 
foot by bloodthirsty assassins, acting in the name of the Government, and the 
heartless and high-handed judicial ruffianism df Justice Grier ; — these, and 
many other kindred facts which I might name, are not the tokens of disaster 
to our cause, but the sure prophecies of its triumph. As the natural fruits 
of the Slave Power, appealing to the hearts and consciences of the people, 
they were demanded by the times ; for it has been said truly, that wrong 
institutions must grow to their full stature, and display all their diabolical 
enormity, before men will engage earnestly in the work of their overthrow. 
We should not desire to have Satan act with a prudent circumspection, and 
enlist the world on his side, or disarm its opposition by disguising himself 
in the drapery of decency. Let him show his cloven foot, and make palpable 
the fact that he is a devil, and his empire will be subverted. 

Herein should the enemies of Slavery thank God and take courage. We 
have unmasked the dragon. We have shorn it of its long-permitted immu- 
nity from the right of search, and compelled it to stand up in its unveiled 
ugliness before the judgment-seat of the world. The Slave Interest itself has 
become a most efficient helper in its own destruction. Its unhallowed rule 
has at length set the world to thinking, its great heart to beating, and its 
great voice to agitating. The Anti-Slavery spirit has pervaded our litera- 
ture, and millions of hearts, in the old world and the new, are now throb- 
bing responsive to the sufferings of the American slaves. It is rapidly 
moulding the public opinion of the civilized world, which Mr. Webster used 
to tell us is the strongest power on earth. It is remorselessly breaking into 
fragments the great political parties of our country, and, at the same time, 
extending its dominion into the churches and hierarchies, which it will either 
purify, or scatter to the four winds, as a preliminary to the establishment of 
other systems, wherein shall dwell righteousness. These facts, and the glo- 
rious future of which they give promise, should animate us with courage, 
constancy, and an unfaltering faith, in our continual labors for the oppressed. 
You, I am sure, and those who constitute the American Anti-Slavery Society, 
■will not be blinded or disheartened by the irregular ebb and flow of political 
, currents, or by facts which drift about upon their surface ; but you will pen- 
etrate beneath it, to those great moral tides which underlie and heave 
onward the politics, the religion, and the whole frame-work of society. 

With an assured trust in the progress and triumph of our cause, 

I am, yours, very truly, GEO. W. JULIAN. 



172 APPENDIX. 

FROM HENRY C. HOWELLS. 

Rose Dale, (near Alleghany, Pa.) Nov. 2Sth, 1853. 
My Beloved Friends in the Cause of Universal Righteous Freedom : 

Twenty years bavepassad since it was ray happiness to address you, on the 
formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Twenty years of patient, 
persevering and enduring toil in the happy service of the God of Love. 
Twenty years of persecution and defiimation, with all manner of evil spoken 
fiilsely of you for the name's sake of Him who pities the poor and destitute. 
Taking joyfully the spoiling of your goods and the jeopardy of your lives, 
the execration of tyrants, and the anathema of a hireling priesthood, you 
have been thus for sustained by Omnipotence, shielded in the hour of danger, 
and cheered onward with the promises of Him who cannot lie, that Truth 
(and )-our cause is Truth) shall finally triumph over every obstacle — whether 
it proceed from the grosser forms of vice, or from the phylacteries of what 
has been emphatically called, " American Christianity." The Lord and Mas- 
ter, in addressing the latter class, said, that "Publicans and Harlots shall 
enter the Kingdom before you." What do we see? The Church, (with some 
happy exceptions,) which has shut up her bowels of compassion, deaf to the 
wailing of millions of the human brotherhood not more unworthy than them- 
selves, and dumb in the cause of those appointed to destruction ; therefore, 
she is losing her moral influence in the world, and from her time-serving pol- 
icy, sinking in the estimation of common honesty. Yet, in her God-defying 
position, to cover her own shame, she points at you, with the finger of affected 
scorn, and with a mendacious tongue cries, "Infidel." Would to God that 
the charge could not be retorted, with fearful reality, and tremendous power ! 
Again she shouts, " Atheist ! " So did the idolators of Rome to the primi- 
tive Christians, because they would not worship their gods. But the prac- 
tical Infidels and Atheists are those who handle the word of God deceitfully, 
who honor Him with their lips, but in works deny Ilim, and His power defy. 
They form a league with the enemies of God and man. They deceive the 
South by false rej^resentations of their best friends. They deceive the 
Nation, by representing those who would exalt it in righteousness as ene- 
mies of their race. 

But what do we 7ww see? When the professed friends of the Redeemer 
are false to their trust, He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him. The 
Fugitive Law, black as the pit with moral pollution, is working a mighty 
change. The Theatre, too, burdened, like Balaam's ass, witli the sins of the 
nation, now, with the tongue of Humanity, rebukes the madness of the 
prophet! as in various places. Uncle Tom's Cabin, with all its thrilling, 
heart-breaking realities, is acted to the life, before crowding, weeping thou, 
sands. The same class of the community who once were proud to be your 
persecutors, will yet rejoice to do the roughest work of breaking the chains of 
Slavery. Lastly, if human testimony is of any value, you have coadjutors 
among the spirits of the just made perfect, who, from the upper world, are 
teaching a purer morality than that taught by the churches generally. 



LETTERS. 



173 



Dear friend?, my heart's desire is, that the God of love may endue you 
with lieavenly wisdom in all your deliberations, make you zealous and faith- 
ful to do His will, and preserve you in peace. 

I must regret it is not in my power to be with you. The loss is mine. But 
should any of my old friends, or any friends of progression, journey this 
way, I shall be happy to give them a passing home and hearty welcome. 

I cannot close this letter without expressing my joy at tlie successful and 
happy results of tlie first lectures given in the Slave States by those excellent 
women, Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone. Much of the mighty work of reform 
is, I believe, j^et to be accomplished by women, disenthralled from ages of 
oppression. Southerners have often been represented by their false friends 
a,8 incapable of any motive but sordid interest, but they have shown and will 
yet evince all the susceptibilities of Humanity, and that they are capable of 
receiving and carrying out the truth nobly. All honor to those female 
champions in the cause of Kighteousness ! 

Your friend, 

HEXRY C. HOWELLS. 



FROM CASSIUS M. CLAY. 

Cincinnati, (Ohio,) Nov. 21, 1853. 
Gentlemen : 

Your kind letter of the 10th inst., inviting me to attend the Twentieth 
Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, is received. I should be 
proud to be with the pioneers of the cause of Liberty, on such a day, did 
time allow ; but it does not. There is something significant in your going 
South. You have " conquered a peace " in Boston. When you were driven 
from New York, a few years ago, you imaiediately came in close sympathy 
with a large class of stern men and women, who before stood aloof in their 
countenance of your movement. New York is now won ; and Philadelphia 
must now determine whether gracefully, or no, she will submit to the uncon- 
querable truth, and the progress of the age ! You are right when you class 
me with those who contend for " the speed}'^ and eternal overthrow of Sla- 
very in our land, by all rightful instrumentalities." I value it above all 
other questions. You fight outside of the Union ; I witliin. So long as we 
agree in purpose, we will agree to disagree in the means. I love " the 
Union " as much as the " Silver Grays " or Southern canters ; but I love it 
not for itself. I love it as the means to an end. I love it as the exponent 
and conservator of the principles of man's equality and self-government. I 
love it as the legacy of fathers who avowed that government had only its 
authority from the consent of the governed. I love it as the guardian also of 
religious liberty, and the true Christianity — that religion is between man 
and his God, and that no man can riglitfuUy, in this respect, exercise cen- 



174 APPKNDIX. 

sorship over others. I love the Union as the banner-hearer of the aspirants 
of Freedom of all lands and nations — lovely in order to be loved. But when 
it fails in these "glorious" ends — and in these only *^ glorious^' — then, 
say I, let it perish for ever! 

And as I thus love it, I shall make eternal war upon all those canting 
scoundrels, whether in Church or State, Avho would pervert its true prestige 
to the retainment of Slavery, and its extension and perpetuity. I return the 
war of lynchers and "respectable " mobs ! I return the war of those, how- 
ever powerful, whose main business it is in these States to " crush out Abo- 
litionism ! " I return the war of those who would, by sermons, tracts, or 
literature, aid the reaction of anti-revolutionary avowals. I return the war 
of those, who, under the hallowed names of Democracy and Republicanism, 
stand by foreign despotisms, and who, amid blood and prisons, bear banners 
inscribed with " law and order I " 1 return the war of the Supreme Courts 
of the United States, who, under the pretence of devotion to law, pervert 
every principle of justice ; of the President, of the Slave Power, and of a ser- 
vile Congress ! With a manly heart, which may be beaten down, but never 
conquered, I shall stand by you and all true men ; and my voice shall ever 
be, " DotiH give up the ship.^' 

I am, truly, your friend, C. M. CLAY. 

William Llovd Garrison, President. 

W. Phillips, E. Quincy, S. H. Gay, Secretaries. 



FROM REV. T. W. HIGGINSON. 

Worcester, (Mass.) Dec. 2, 1853. 
Dear Sirs : 

I thank you for the honor done me by your invitation to attend the Anti- 
Slavery celebration at Philadelphia, and regret that I cannot accept it, in 
consequence of other engagements. 

I regard the Anti-Slavery movement as the moral school of this generation. 
Beyoml all other questions of the time, this tests every man first, and then 
educates him. I do not see how there can be, among generous and conscien- 
tious persons, more than one opinion respecting its principles, or more than 
two opinions respecting its destiny. And whichsoever of these two last 
opinions we may adopt, our practical duty remains still the same. 

My meaning is very simple. This nation struggles under one terrible dis- 
ease, growing with its growth, and strengtiicning at the expense of its real 
strengtii. Now, every disease has one of two results. Either the disease 
kills the patient ; or the patient, after all, outlives the disease. 

First, there are those, (and T am one of them,) who think that the patient 
in this case will outlive the disease. These point to the increasing mental 
and moral education of society, to new inventions, to better laws, — to the 
decided improvement, especially in the condition of the Southern slave pop- 



LETTERS. 175 

ulation, and the amelioration of slave codes, (in spite of all assertions to the 
contrary ;) they point, finally, to the great sudden birth of an Anti-Slavery 
Literature, — to prove that the moral power of the world is at last beginning 
to produce an effect. Certainly, if these things be true, they should put a 
heart of faith into every American man and woman, enabling each one to 
fight more strongly on the side of Freedom. 

Second. But there are those who deny all this, and believe that Slavery is 
gradually gaining a larger and larger control of our National Government ; — 
that the nation is too utterly prostrated ever to recover from the moral con- 
tamination ; — that the United States, " the Rome of the Dollar,*' is destined 
to fall as the other Rome fell ; — that, in short, the disease will kill the 
2')atient. I do not believe this ; — but let it be so. How does this affect our 
practical action ? It is remarkable, that it is in feriods ivhen States are declin- 
ing-, that indiridval virtue always shines bright fst. It was so in Greece, — it 
was so in Rome. Seneca said, "Was there ever any State so desperate as 
that of Athens under the Thirty Tyrants, when it was a capital crime to l)e 
honest " [it is politically a capital crime to be honest now] — " and when the 
Senate was a College of Hangmen? — [who was it whom a United States 
Senator threatened to hang? ] " Never wns any time so wretched and hope- 
less ; and yet Socrates, at that very time, preached moderation to the 
Tyrants, and courage to all the rest." 

It was Seneca who wrote this, and lived to act the same part himself in 
the decline of Rome. What a waste of virtue it seemed to them ! But now 
that Greece and Rome are long fillen. and the very names of their tyrants 
faded, Socrates and Seneca still live, to guide and encourage a younger race, 
on another continent. So it is always with true Reformers, in the worst of 
times ; the immediate result of their labors is uncertain ; the distant result 
is sure. 

It was an ancient maxim, that " zV is far easier to conquer a nation, than 
one ivise man "; and it is so now. 

I am, yours, very respectfully, 



Wendell Phillips, 

Edmund Quincy, \ Secretaries. 

S. H. Gay, ) 



I 



T. W. HIGCINSON. 



FROM WILLIAM G. W. LEWIS. 

Cincinnati, Nov. 29th, 1853. 
Dear Sirs : 

My father, Samuel Lewis, has received a letter requesting his presence 
at your Anniversary, at Philadelphia, on the third and fourth of December. 

Mr. Lewis's health will prevent liim from leaving home at present, while 
a severe attack of illness prevents his even answering your letter in the man- 
ner you suggested. 



176 APPENDIX. 

lie Avishea mo, however, to say, that liis opposition to Slavery and the 
Bpiiit t'.uit sustains it is still unceasing and uncompromising. He never 
expects to cease in his exertions to banish it from the land vfhiie he lives, or 
until it is driven entirely from our borders. The time has come, when Chris- 
tians, whether in the organized Church bodies or out of them, must, if 
obedient to the faith, rally in defence of God's truth and of Humanity, in 
opposition to oppression of every kind and every where. 

Yours, for the cause of Humanity, 

WM. G. W. LEWIS. 
Wendkll Phillips, ^ 
Edmund Qlincy, > Secretaries. 
S. II. Gay, ) 



FROM HON. GERRIT SMITH. 

Messrs. Garrison, Quincy, Phillips and Gay : 

Dear Friends. — Your invitation finds me suffering under rush of blood to 
the head. My reply must therefore be brief. 

I should indeed long to be with you on the 3d and 4th proximo, but I can- 
not be. I hope to be able to be in Washington at that time. 

Truly yours, 

GERRIT SxMTTH. 



FROM REV. E. H. CHAPIN. 

New York, Nov. 24, 1853. 
Gentlemen : 

You rightly apprehend my desire for the speedy overthrow of Slavery in 
our land, and my sympathy with every movement which tends to accomplish 
this object ; but absence from home, and numerous engagements, render it 
impracticable for me to be present at the meeting on the 3d and 4th of De- 
cember. 

Yours truly, 



Wm. Lloyd Garrison, President. 

W. Phillips, ) 

E. Quincy, \ Secretaries. 

S. II. Gay, j 



E. H. CIIAPIN. 




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